Shane Owen created another club record on Sunday night against the Belfast Giants as he made appearance 309 in his Fife Flyers career. This moved him ahead of James Isaacs as the non homegrown player who has made most appearances for the Flyers in the Elite Ice Hockey League.
Last season the club recognised a Fife Flyers all time milestone achievement by Shane as he played the most ever games as a goalie in Flyers history. As we entered last season Shane was chasing the previous holder of that accolade Blair Daly who had played a total of 261 games spanning ten seasons. Shane finished the 2022/23 season having played 259 games for the Flyers over his then four seasons and his record setting 262nd appearance also came against the Belfast Giants on 30th September 2023 in a game that the Flyers lost 1-0.
The then 26 year old Shane signed for the Flyers in the summer of 2016 having played most of the previous six seasons of this professional career in the ECHL where he made 153 appearances with no fewer than 11 different teams whilst posting five shutouts. His competitive debut for Flyers came against the Belfast Giants in September 2016 and he would go on to be an ever present that season. In fact Shane until his injury this season had played in 289 consecutive games for the club albeit over three different spells which technically doesn’t qualify him as the longest Ironman streak in the EIHL for the club, his 159 games in his latest three consecutive seasons is 7th best with Stephen Gunn holding the top spot with 228 games played consecutively. In his first season Shane put up three shutouts in competitive matches, he also blanked EC Peting in a Challenge match in his first ever game. Season 2017/18 he spent time in Sweden before returning to North America and then resigned for the Flyers for the 2018/19 season in which he recorded one further shutout. Shane at present has a total of 13 shutouts having recorded four in each of the last two seasons and one so far this term. He has also recorded 8 points in the EIHL for the Flyers which is best for a Flyers goalie in all EIHL competitions and second all time for points for a goalie behind Blair Daly who racked up an incredible 30 points which is of course again an all-time record for a Flyers goalie.
The list of teams that Shane has competitive shut outs against for the Flyers is as follows:
As can be seen two of those games ended as defeats with the Flyers losing in shootouts after regulation and overtime failed to produce any goals, in these situations the goalies are credited with shutouts as goals scored in a shootout do not count against a goalie. These two games are the two lowest scoring games in Flyers history all time. Shane also has another four shutouts in Friendly matches.
Shane’s headline stats at 8th September 2024 now read:
Played 309 Won 116 Drawn 3 Lost 190 Goals Against 1082
Shots Against 11709 Save % 90.75 Goals Against Average 3.50
His full statistical breakdown by season is as follows:
Shane’s wins have come against the following teams:
In addition Shane has also made 50 appearances in the EIHL for the Belfast Giants in season 2019/20 recording two shutouts and a further 11 appearances for the Coventry Blaze in the EIHL Series during the Covid lockdown period.
Congratulations Shane
