ECHL Goalie Jeff Jakaitis Has Historic Shutout Streak

The ECHL is seeing history in the past month. First, the South Carolina Stingrays have tied a North American record with 20 straight wins. But it’s their goalie who is making headlines. 31 year old journeyman goaltender Jeff Jakaitis has a shutout streak that has now exceeded 300 minutes.

We’ve seen some shutout streaks already this season in the American Hockey League with the Wilkes Barre/Scranton Penguins. The Stingrays have been on fire with their 20 straight, but the past five have been magical with the shutouts from Jakatis.

The latest game to be scoreless from the other side was just last night when South Carolina beat the Indy Fuel 4-0. The game extended Jakaitis’ historic streak to 319 minutes and 32 seconds.

The all time professional record comes from former Phoenix Coyotes goaltender Brian Boucher who had 332 minutes of scoreless hockey on his side. Jakaitis is just 23 minutes away, or a little over one period, of having a stronger record than an NHL ‘tender.

Over his last six games, all wins, Jakaitis has a save percentage of .993, a baffling number. He’s at .927 overall on the season and it has jumped about .014 after the past six games.

The Fuel had 35 shots on the journeyman goalie in their loss on Friday night as Jakaitis turned them all away. The undrafted goalie plays for the Stingrays roster that is property of the Boston Bruins and Washington Capitals of the NHL.

The team itself is third overall in the east with a record of 30-18-1-6. If you do the math, before this 20 game win streak, the Stingrays were just 10-18-1-6! The roll they have been on has led them to possible playoff positioning.

Jakaitis has been one of the reasons why, even aside the streak. In the midst of the shutouts he has stopped 110 pucks overall. He’s been playing pro hockey for nine years and played his college hockey with Lake Superior State University.

In the ECHL, Jakaitis has also played with the Gwinnett Gladiators, Charlotte Checkers, and Columbia Inferno. He has even seen some time in the AHL with the Rochester Americans, Portland Pirates, and Worcester Sharks. Jakaitis also played in the CHL for a little bit with the Dayton Gems.

Jakaitis has been with the Stingrays since early December of 2012 when he was signed as a free agent. Since then, he has become the team’s starting goalie with just a brief stint with the AHL’s Houston Aeros in between.

Last season he was a member of the All-ECHL first team.