Jonathan Quick Becomes Another ECHL Alumn to Make it All the Way to the NHL

Saturday

08Dec2007

Saturday, December 8, 2007 at 11:09AM

MLN Newswire - www.mlntherawfeed.com –

PRINCETON, N.J. – Jonathan Quick, who began the season with the Reading Royals, made his National Hockey League debut with the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday, making 15 saves in an 8-2 win against the Buffalo Sabres.

“It was just good timing that I happened to get in tonight," said Quick. "It was a lot easier with the support the team gave me and the way they played in front of me. It was a good game for me to start off my career with. It was a lot of fun."

Quick, who was pressed into service because of injuries to former Charlotte goaltender Jason LaBarbera and former Dayton goaltender Jean-Sebastien Aubin, becomes the 334th player to play in the NHL after playing in the ECHL. He is the fifth to play his first NHL game this season, joining former Johnstown Chiefs and Fresno Falcons goaltender Dmitri Patzold (San Jose on Oct. 7), former San Diego goaltender Tyler Weiman (Colorado on Oct. 4), former Charlotte right wing Craig Weller (Phoenix on Oct. 4) and former Phoenix RoadRunners center Daniel Winnik (Phoenix Coyotes on Oct. 4).

There have been 189 former ECHL players who have played their first NHL game in the past seasons. Twenty-six former ECHL players made their NHL debut in 2006-07, including two who played in both the ECHL and the NHL as goaltender Yutaka Fukufuji played for Reading and Los Angeles while defenseman Bryan Young skated for Stockton and Edmonton. Dave McKee played for Augusta and dressed for five games as the backup goaltender for Stanley Cup champion Anaheim.

Selected in the third round (72nd overall) by Los Angeles in the 2005 National Hockey League Entry Draft and under NHL contract to the Kings, the 21-year-old began the season in Reading and was 7-5-1 with a goals-against average of 2.46 and a save percentage of .907 in 13 games when he was reassigned by the Kings to Manchester of the American Hockey League on Nov. 18. He was 1-2-0 with a goals-against average of 2.67 and a save percentage of .909 in three games for the Monarchs before being recalled to Los Angeles on Dec. 2.

He joined ECHL All-Star and current Dallas Stars goaltender Mike Smith in the ECHL record book on Oct. 25 when he recorded his first win, his first shutout and scored his first goal in the same game, a 3-0 win at Pensacola on Oct. 24. The goal was scored at 19:25 of the third period when the puck rolled the length of the ice and into the Pensacola net which was empty because goaltender Mike Brodeur had been pulled for an extra attacker. Quick was the last player to touch the puck, so he was credited with the unassisted goal.

Quick is the ninth goaltender in league history to score a goal and the first since Trevor Koenig of Atlantic City at Wheeling on Mar. 2, 2005. Corwin Saurdiff of Hampton Roads was the first ECHL goaltender to score a goal on Mar. 18, 1995 against Charlotte. Charlotte's Nick Vitucci, Erie's Olie Sundstrom and South Carolina's Sean Gauthier all accomplished the feat during the 1995-96 season and Toledo's Mark Bernard scored a goal on Mar. 27, 2001 against Johnstown.