Zachary Bierk (born September 17, 1976) is a former Canadian professional ice hockey player. He played in 47 NHL games with the Tampa Bay Lightning, Minnesota Wild, and Phoenix Coyotes between 1997 and 2004. He most recently was the goaltending coach with the Ottawa Senators, and is now a scout with the team.
Junior career
Bierk was born in Peterborough, Ontario. He spent four years with the Peterborough Petes of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) from 1993–94 to 1996–97. In the 1995–96 season, Bierk led the Petes to the Memorial Cup final, where they were defeated by the Granby Prédateurs 4–0 in the final. The following season, Bierk won the OHL goaltender of the year award, the Leo Lalonde trophy as the best over-age player in the league and was named to the OHL All-Star First Team and Canadian Hockey League All-Star Second Team.[1]
Professional career
Bierk was drafted by the Tampa Bay Lightning of the National Hockey League (NHL) in the 1995 NHL Entry Draft as their ninth-round pick, 212th overall, from the Peterborough Petes, although he originally expected to be drafted in the fourth or fifth round, and left the draft after he had not been selected by the end of the sixth round.[2] His first victory came on March 30, 1998 in only his second career start, a 3–1 win in New York against the Rangers.[1]
On January 8, 2003, while playing for the Phoenix Coyotes Bierk and Chicago Blackhawks goaltender Michael Leighton both earned their first NHL shutouts in a 0–0 tie. It was the first time in league history that two goalies had both earned their first career shutouts in the same game.[3]
His final NHL appearance came on November 9, 2003, in a 2–1 overtime loss to the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.[1] Bierk finished his career with 47 game appearances, a 9–20–5 record, a 3.18 GAA and a 0.901 save percentage with 1 shutout. Bierk also had one assist and six penalty minutes.[1]
Post-playing career
After retiring, Bierk served as one of the instructors at the goaltending school, Team Shutout. Bierk joined the Oshawa Generals of the OHL in June 2013 as their goalie consultant, replacing Michael Lawrence.[4] Bierk won a Memorial Cup with the Generals in 2015.[5]
Bierk returned to the Coyotes organization in 2018 as the team's goaltending development coach,[6] also serving as the goalie coach of their AHL farm club, the Tucson Roadrunners.[7] On April 6, 2021, Bierk was hired as the goaltending coach for the Ottawa Senators. Bierk had many connections to the Senators prior to joining the organization. He and Senators' head coach D. J. Smith were both coaches with the Generals during their 2015 Memorial Cup win.[5] Furthermore, with the Coyotes Bierk worked under Brian Daccord, the father of then-Senators' goaltender Joey Daccord.[8] In January 2024, Bierk was replaced as goaltending coach by Justin Peters and assigned scouting duties.[9]
Bierk also co-owns and runs a high-level goaltending school in the Greater Toronto Area, known as Armour Goaltending.[10]
Bierk family
Bierk is the brother of
Peterborough, Ontario, City Councillor and artist, Alex Bierk,
former Skid Row lead singer Sebastian Bach, Canadian actress Dylan Bierk, and Toronto-based artists Jeff, Nick, and Charles Bierk. Bierk is the son of David Bierk, an artist whose paintings are still displayed at the Nancy Hoffman Gallery in New York City. One of Bierk's sisters was a model and his mother is also an artist.[2]
