By GREG Bates
SPORTS EDITOR
ASHWAUBENON – When the Green Bay Gamblers selected goalie Kristoffer Eberly in the third round of the 2022 United States Hockey League (USHL) Phase II Draft last May, the coaches knew what kind of talent they were receiving.
But Eberly has turned some heads.
“I think it’s turning out that he’s been a bit of a steal for how late he was picked,” Gamblers assistant coach Jimmy Spratt said last week. “We saw the potential there, and it seems that he’s coming along pretty nicely.”
Eberly, who turned 20 on Dec. 10, has been playing very well between the pipes for the Gamblers in his first full season in the USHL.
He is tied with a league-leading 10 wins in his first 17 games. Two of his losses have come in overtime and in a shootout.
“It’s been going really good with me, but I think it just leads to our whole team, everyone works hard every day and it just leads to everyone getting better,” Eberly said. “I find my success with all of these guys on my team just working with them every day.”
Eberly’s 2.68 goals against average is seventh best in the league and he has a 90.6 save percentage.
The Pinckney, Mich., native credits his teammates for his strong play in the net.
“My defense, they’ve been really good here and I think just working on little things with coach Spratt and just working on details every day in practice,” Eberly said. “It’s been translating into games.”
Spratt has been really impressed by what he’s seen from his goaltender.
“He moves really well,” Spratt said. “He’s got all the physical attributes of a pro goalie. I think he’s like 6-foot-4 and he’s just all around a really good athlete. He’s a good skater, good hands, smooth. He’s got all the tools to play for a long time.”
Eberly has fit in well with the culture and players in Green Bay.
“I’m so happy we have him here,” Gamblers forward Eli Sebastian said. “He like forces me to be better every day in practice. Obviously, it’s a lot of fun going up against him, and he makes us all better.”
When Eberly first arrived in Green Bay, he had to get acclimated to the area and his new teammates.
“It took a couple weeks just to get used to everything out here, but it was super quick to transition with these guys,” he said. “They’re all great guys and they’re like my brothers, so it’s been awesome.”
Eberly has good size for a goalie at 6-foot-4, 190 pounds. That frame is a big asset to go along with his shiftiness in net.
Spratt has been working with Eberly since he arrived in Green Bay. The coach likes his goalie’s composure the best about his game.
“He’s got good size and he’s got all the ability, but once you get to these higher levels, a lot of goalies have all these physical attributes that make you really good,” Spratt said. “To me, it’s his mental composure. I mean, mentally he reads the game well, but emotionally he’s very calm. He doesn’t seem to get rattled after goals. He can give up one or two early goals and it doesn’t spiral into six or seven. He’s got a short-term memory and that’s something at this age that’s really difficult for goaltenders to have.”
Eberly started off last season playing for the junior team Northern Cyclones out of New Hampshire. He then played the end of the year with the USHL’s Sioux City Musketeers, starting four games and going 3-1.
At the end of July, he committed to play college hockey at Ohio State.
“He’s kind of a late bloomer,” Spratt said. “He was playing high school hockey and Tier III junior hockey and U18, he was really kind off the radar. He’s come along as of late, so it’s been big jumps for sure, but he’s handled this jump very well. I know he’s going to continue to get better.
“Then going to college hockey — and big-time college hockey, too, the Big Ten — it’s going to be another jump as well. But he seems to get better every day, and I think that’s what the goal is. It’s kind of taking every day at a time. You can’t worry about what’s ahead, it’s about focusing on each day at hand and that’s kind of the message we deliver to all of our kids.”
This is Eberly’s final year of eligibility in the USHL before he heads off to Ohio State in fall 2023.
“I just hope to keep getting better and just focusing on development and making sure I’m ready,” Eberly said. “I think just mainly focusing on this year and trying to take this team as far as we can here.”
The Ohio State coaches have been watching Eberly’s progress early this season and have liked what they’ve seen.
“They think I’m doing a really good job right now and just have been telling me to keep it up, keep doing what I’m doing,” Eberly said. “It’s been really good with the coaches here, too, just kind of giving them feedback and stuff like that.”
Eberly believes he’s playing his best right now, and that’s a good thing for the Gamblers. If he can continue his solid play between the pipes, Green Bay could have a strong push after the new year.
“My main focus is just to try and stay consistent with everything and just doing my best every practice and every game,” Eberly said.