Chris Olson
{{short description|American ice hockey player}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox ice hockey biography
| name = Chris Olson
| image =
| image_size =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1964|07|04}}
| birth_place = New Hope, Minnesota, U.S.
| height_ft = 6
| height_in = 2
| weight_lb = 190
| position = Goaltender
| catches = Left
| played_for = Denver
| career_start = 1983
| career_end = 1987
| draft = 1986 NHL Supplemental Draft
| draft_team = Boston Bruins
}}
Chris Olson (born July 4, 1964) is an American former professional ice hockey goaltender who was an All-American for Denver.
Career
Olson arrived at Denver when the program was in a lull. He split time in goal as a freshman while the team allowed more than five goals per game and finished 11 games below .500. Both Olson and the team improved after the inauspicious start and he became the team's primary starter as a sophomore. The Pioneers improved on the whole but were just a middling team in the WCHA. All of that changed in Olson's junior year.
Denver started hot and ended up finishing atop their conference standings, their first title in eight years.{{cite web |url=https://s3.amazonaws.com/denverpioneers.com/documents/2020/11/20/2020_21_Media_Guide.pdf |title=Denver Hockey Media Guide 2020-21 |work=Denver Pioneers |accessdate=March 13, 2021 |archive-date=September 1, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210901161346/https://s3.amazonaws.com/denverpioneers.com/documents/2020/11/20/2020_21_Media_Guide.pdf |url-status=dead }} Olson had split time with Tom Allen during the season but he finished in the top 5 in the country with a 3.12 goals against average. Olson was named an All-American and led the Pioneers to their first conference championship in thirteen years. In their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1973, Denver won a narrow victory in the quarterfinals. Their run ended against Harvard when Olson couldn't hold back a Crimson surge in the third period.{{cite web|url=https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1986/3/31/crimson-stuns-favored-pioneers-5-2-pbefore/ |title=Crimson Stuns Favored Pioneers, 5-2 |work=The Harvard Crimson |date=March 31, 1986 |accessdate=June 16, 2021}}
Olson's fantastic season placed him squarely in the sights of the NHL and he was selected by the Boston Bruins in the NHL Supplemental Draft. Entering his senior season, the hope was that Olson and Denver could continue as they had in 1986 but the Pioneers under Ralph Backstrom turned out to be a one-year wonder. Olson's GAA swelled by more than a goal per game and the team won 15 fewer games. Rather than pursue a professional career, Olson retired as a player after the year.
Statistics
=Regular season and playoffs=
| border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" style="text-align:center; width:80em" | |||||||||||||||
| bgcolor="#e0e0e0"
! colspan="3" bgcolor="#ffffff" | ! rowspan="99" bgcolor="#ffffff" | ! colspan="9" | Regular season ! rowspan="99" bgcolor="#ffffff" | ! colspan="8" | Playoffs | |||||||||||||||
| bgcolor="#e0e0e0"
! Season !! Team !! League ! GP !! W !! L !! T !! MIN !! GA !! SO !! GAA !! SV% ! GP !! W !! L !! MIN !! GA !! SO !! GAA !! SV% | |||||||||||||||
| 1981–82
| Robbinsdale Armstrong High School | MN-HS | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | —
| — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| bgcolor="f0f0f0"
| 1982–83 | Robbinsdale Armstrong High School | MN-HS | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | —
| — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1983–84
| Denver | WCHA | 15 | 7 | 6 | 0 | — | — | 0 | 5.09 | .860
| — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| bgcolor="f0f0f0"
| 1984–85 | Denver | WCHA | 21 | — | — | — | — | — | 0 | 4.23 | .877
| — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1985–86
| Denver | WCHA | 27 | — | — | — | — | — | 1 | 3.12 | .900
| — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| bgcolor="f0f0f0"
| 1986–87 | Denver | WCHA | 22 | 10 | 11 | 1 | 1327 | 92 | 1 | 4.16 | .875
| — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| bgcolor="#e0e0e0"
! colspan="3" | NCAA totals ! 85 !! — !! — !! — !! — !! 321 !! 2 !! — | .880
! — !! — !! — !! — !! — !! — !! — !! — |
Awards and honors
References
{{Reflist|50em}}
External links
- {{Ice hockey stats}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Olson, Chris}}
Category:American ice hockey goaltenders
Category:AHCA Division I men's ice hockey All-Americans
Category:Ice hockey players from Minnesota
Category:People from New Hope, Minnesota
Category:Ice hockey people from Hennepin County, Minnesota
Category:Denver Pioneers men's ice hockey players