Erik Lawrence Burgdoerfer (born December 11, 1988) is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

former professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

defenceman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from Goal (ice hockey), scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the la ...

. He played in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

(NHL) with the

Buffalo Sabres The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. The Sabres compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team was established in 1970, along w ...

and the

Ottawa Senators The Ottawa Senators (french: Sénateurs d'Ottawa), officially the Ottawa Senators Hockey Club and colloquially known as the Sens, are a professional ice hockey team based in Ottawa. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a membe ...

Playing career

Burgdoerfer attended

Ward Melville High School Ward Melville High School is a Public school (government funded), public high school in the Three Village Central School District of Suffolk County, New York on Long Island, serving grades tenth grade, ten through twelfth grade, twelve. It is f ...

for four years while playing for the

New York Apple Core The New York Apple Core are a Tier III Junior A ice hockey team from Brewster, New York, playing in the Eastern Hockey League. The team plays home games at the Brewster Ice Arena. The Apple Core organization is based out of Long Beach, New York, ...

in the

Eastern Hockey League The Eastern Hockey League was a minor professional United States ice hockey league. Eastern Amateur Hockey League (1933–1953) The league was founded in 1933 as the Eastern Amateur Hockey League (EAHL). The league was founded by Tommy Lockhart, ...

. While playing for the New York Apple Core, he was named to the All-EJHL Team.

Collegiate

Burgdoerfer played college hockey for

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute () (RPI) is a private research university in Troy, New York, with an additional campus in Hartford, Connecticut. A third campus in Groton, Connecticut closed in 2018. RPI was established in 1824 by Stephen Van ...

ECAC Hockey ECAC Hockey is one of the six conferences that compete in NCAA Division I ice hockey. The conference used to be affiliated with the Eastern College Athletic Conference, a consortium of over 300 colleges in the eastern United States. This relati ...

. In his freshman year at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, he played in 23 games and recorded 2 points. He shared the honor of winning the Engineers Most Improved Player Award with Andrei Uryadov. In his senior year, the 2009–10 season, Burgdoerfer played in a career high 39 games and scored seven points. In January 2009, Burgdoerfer was suspended for three games due to harmful hits but at the conclusion of the season, Burgdoerfer was named to the ECAC Hockey All-Academic team, and was awarded the Engineers Best Defensive Player Award.

Professional

Following his graduation, Burgdoerfer began his professional career in 2010 with the

Bakersfield Condors The Bakersfield Condors are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL) based in Bakersfield, California. The team is owned by and affiliated with the National Hockey League's Edmonton Oilers. The Condors play their home g ...

of the

ECHL The ECHL (formerly the East Coast Hockey League) is a mid-level professional ice hockey league based in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, with teams scattered across the United States and Canada. It is a tier below the American Hockey League (AHL). The E ...

. In January 2013, Burgdoerfer was named captain of the Condors. In October 2013, Burgdoerfer was signed by the

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary Minor league#Ice hockey, developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 AHL se ...

's Oklahoma City Barons. Burgdoerfer was signed to a one-year contract by the AHL's

Hershey Bears The Hershey Bears are a professional ice hockey team based in Hershey, Pennsylvania, a town located 14 miles east of the state capital of Harrisburg Harrisburg is the capital city of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the c ...

in August 2014. The team re-signed him to a second one-year contract in May 2015. After two successful seasons in the AHL with the Bears, Burgdoerfer secured his first NHL contract in signing a one-year, two-way deal with the

on July 21, 2016. After beginning the 2016–17 season with the

Rochester Americans The Rochester Americans (colloquially known as the Amerks) are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League; the team is an owned and operated affiliate of the Buffalo Sabres. The team plays its home games in Rochester, New York, a ...

of the AHL, he was called up to Buffalo after a rash of injuries on the blueline and made his NHL debut on December 5, 2016 in a game against the

Washington Capitals The Washington Capitals (colloquially known as the Caps) are a professional ice hockey team based in Washington, D.C. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL) ...

. On July 1, 2017, the first day of NHL free agency, Burgdoerfer signed a two-year, $1.3 million contract with the Ottawa Senators. Burgdoerfer was called up to the NHL on February 26, 2018, and he recorded his first NHL point on March 13, 2018, in a 7–4 win over the

Tampa Bay Lightning The Tampa Bay Lightning (colloquially known as the Bolts) are a professional ice hockey team based in Tampa, Florida. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. They play th ...

. Prior to the 2018–19 season, Burgdoerfer was named the second captain in Belleville Senators history. After playing in 10 games, Burgdoerfer was recalled to the NHL on November 1. He was re-assigned to the AHL on November 9 after playing in one game. Due to an injury to

Mark Borowiecki Mark Borowiecki (pronounced BOR-vee-ETZ-kee) (born July 12, 1989) is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman who is currently playing for the Nashville Predators of the National Hockey League (NHL). He is the first Ottawa native to be draf ...

, Burgdoerfer was recalled to the NHL on December 1 after playing in 16 games and scoring six points. He was re-assigned to the AHL after playing in three games and recording no points. After two seasons within the Senators organization, Burgdoerfer left as a free agent and later returned to former club, the Hershey Bears, on a one-year AHL contract on July 11, 2019.

Personal life

Burgdoerfer's twin brother Greg also plays hockey. He last played for the Bakersfield Condors.

Career statistics

Awards and honors

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Burgdoerfer, Erik 1988 births Living people American men's ice hockey defensemen Bakersfield Condors (1998–2015) players Belleville Senators players Buffalo Sabres players Hershey Bears players People from East Setauket, New York Sportspeople from Brookhaven, New York Ice hockey players from New York (state) Oklahoma City Barons players Ottawa Senators players Rochester Americans players RPI Engineers men's ice hockey players South Carolina Stingrays players Undrafted National Hockey League players Twin sportspeople American twins Ice hockey players from Pennsylvania Ward Melville High School alumni