Background
Shields grew up in North Bay, Ontario playing minor hockey until Bantam with the local Athletics Associate of Arts program of the NOHA.
Shields grew up in North Bay, Ontario playing minor hockey until Bantam with the local Athletics Associate of Arts program of the NOHA.
University of Michigan.
At age 16, Shields moved to southern Ontario to play for the Saint Marys Lincolns Junior.B. club of the OHA before accepting a scholarship to The University of Michigan. As a collegiate Shields became the first goalie in National Collegiate Athletic Association history to record 100 career victories and was a two time All American. Shields was drafted in the fifth round (#101 overall) in the 1990 National Hockey League Entry Draft by the Buffalo Sabres out of the University of Michigan.
Shields could be best classified as a journeyman National Hockey League goaltender over his tenure.
In his National Hockey League career, Shields would play for the Buffalo Sabres, the San Jose Sharks, the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, the Boston Bruins, the Florida Panthers, and the Atlanta Thrashers. Shields has recently been playing in the NESHL as a center for Mutiny.
Mutiny is a B division team out of the Metro Boston league. 1996 AHL Champion Goaltender Steve Shields set an American Hockey League record with 15 playoff victories.
John Tortorella was the coach.
1997 Playoffs One of his career highlights was during the 1997 playoffs, when Dominik Hašek was injured. Hašek had been the team Most Valuable Player and the league"s best goalie during the regular season and he had been considered crucial to the Sabres" playoff hopes. With Hašek leaving in the midst of game three of the first round, Shields was forced to step in but he helped the Sabres to rally and defeat the Ottawa Senators.
Shields then played the second round series against the Philadelphia Flyers, as Hašek was suspended for three games after an altercation with reporter Jim Kelley.
Hašek was set to return in game four with the team down by three games in the series, but he told the Sabres" coaching staff he felt a twinge in his knee and left the ice after the pregame skate. Again before the fifth game, Hašek declared himself unfit to play and Shields would finish the series with Buffalo losing 6–3 and being eliminated.
1999–2000 Season Shields"s best season was in the 1999–2000 season, when he played in 67 games for the San Jose Sharks while posting respectable goaltending numbers for the team (27 wins, 30 losses, four shutouts, a 256 Gaelic Athletic Association, and a 911 save percentage). San Jose made it to the second round of the playoffs that year.
Goalie mask design Shields"s mask was a tribute to former Bruins goalie Gerry Cheevers famed "stitch mask".
He continued wearing the stitch mask after he was traded to the Florida Panthers. Shields served under Mel Pearson as a volunteer assistant coach at Michigan Technical for two seasons from 2011 to 2013 before joining the Florida Panthers as a goaltending consultant in the summer of 2013. On May 7, 2015, it was announced that Shields was named a volunteer assistant coach for the Michigan Wolverines men"s ice hockey team
Shields had a notable goalie mask which was designed while he was a member of the Boston Bruins.