BACK 2 THE BEARS: ERIK BURGDOERFER

June 12, 2015

After coming up short of a roster spot on his first training camp with the Bears in 2013-14, defenseman Erik Burgdoerfer returned determined to perform his best for head coach Troy Mann – his mentor and coach with the ECHL’s Bakersfield Condors that year.  “Burgy” certainly earned his spot last year, after completing his fourth full season in California.  At the time, his only sniff of the American Hockey League came in 2013-14, a three-game stint with the Oklahoma City Barons.  The Condors’ alternate captain would net one assist in his short AHL tenure, but a season featuring a career-high 11 goals, 22 points and plus-15 rating gave him all the backup he needed to catch the eye of the Hershey faithful.  Certainly, his ties to Mann and his Bakersfield assistant coach Ryan Murphy helped his cause.  But he still had to work his hardest to maintain their confidence.  Assistant coach Bryan Helmer ended up rounding out his overall game through the course of last year, and soon, Burgdoerfer found himself playing a top-pair role – even through the Calder Cup playoffs – his first taste of the AHL postseason.  He played primarily with Cameron Schilling on that top pair, giving the Bears a shut-down duo that proved tremendously difficult for opponents’ top forwards.  Burgdoerfer played 58 games with the Bears and only three in the ECHL with the South Carolina Stingrays.  Burgdoerfer has good foot speed, great control of gaps against opposing forwards, plays hard along the boards and is a right-handed shot – a luxury that the Bears lacked at times over the past two seasons.  Playing as a 26-year-old rookie, Burgdoerfer made it an easy decision for management to lock him in for 2015-16.  He should play himself easily into a top-four role in Chocolatetown and possibly top-two once again.