UMass Alum Quick Retires from NHL

Three-time Stanley Cup champion goaltender Jonathan Quick (Massachusetts) has called it a career.

Quick, 40, from Milford, Conn. played the final game of his 18-year NHL career by making 14 saves for the New York Rangers in a 3-2 loss at Florida on Monday. He finished his league tenure with a 410-307-90 record, a 2.51 goals-against average, and 65 shutouts in 829 regular-season outings with the Los Angeles Kings, who drafted him 72nd overall in 2005, the Vegas Golden Knights, and the Rangers, from 2008 to 2026. He also earned the Williams Jennings Trophy twice for lowest goals against, and posted 23 assists offensively, while also skating in two Olympic Winter Games with the United States.

Quick also fashioned a 49-43 mark over 92 career Stanley Cup playoff outings, backstopping Los Angeles to its first-ever NHL championships in both 2012 and 2014 while earning Conn Smythe Trophy playoff MVP accolades the first time. He won his third Stanley Cup as a backup in 2023 in his sole campaign with Vegas, and also played professionally with Manchester (AHL) and Reading (ECHL).

A product of Hamden (Conn.) High and Avon Old Farms, Quick spent two NCAA seasons at Massachusetts before turning pro in 2007. He went 23-22-6 with 2.79 GAA in 54 appearances with the Minutemen, earning Second Team All-America honors as a sophomore while also backstopping UMass to the NCAA tournament that same season.

NCAA Players Making Mark in NHL Play

Former NCAA players have been making their mark in the NHL recently following Friday's trade deadline.

Joel Farabee (Boston University) scored the only goal of the game Saturday night to lift Calgary to a 1-0 win over visiting Montreal. Charlie Coyle (Boston University) assisted on the game-winning goal that same evening in his first appearance with Colorado, as the host Avalanche defeated Toronto, 7-4, while Brady Tkachuk (Boston University) fired home the game-winner in overtime as host Ottawa downed the New York Rangers, 4-3. Cole Koepke (Minnesota-Duluth), a 2019 NCAA champion, tallied twice in Boston's 4-0 win at Tampa Bay, while Zach Hyman (Michigan) did the same for Edmonton in a 5-4 victory over visiting Dallas. 

Adam Fantilli (Michigan), the 2022 Hobey Baker Memorial Award winner, notched his second career NHL hat trick tonight as visiting Columbus routed the Rangers, 7-3. Chris Kreider (Boston College) tallied a shorthanded goal for the home team, while Jonathan Quick (Massachusetts) made 20 stops in goal for the Rangers. Drew Helleson (Boston College) notched the game-winner as Anaheim upended the visiting New York Islanders, 4-1.

Lastly, defenseman Colton Parayko (Alaska Fairbanks) of the St. Louis Blues will be sidelined until mid-April with a knee injury. He has a career-high 15 goals to go with 20 assists for 35 points in 62 outings so far this season.

Two Clubs Back in Contention, One Set to Sweep

Jonathan Quick (Massachusetts) made 28 saves on Monday night as the Los Angeles Kings climbed back into their Western Conference quarterfinal series of the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs with a 2-1 overtime win at San Jose. The Sharks, who had won the first two games in Los Angeles, now lead the best-of-seven series, two games to one. Game 4 is Wednesday in San Jose.

In Minnesota, the host Wild stormed back from a 2-0 first-period deficit to register a 5-3 victory over the Dallas Stars yesterday. Erik Haula (Minnesota) had a goal and assist to lead the Wild, while Charlie Coyle (Boston University) picked up an assist. Patrick Sharp (Vermont) scored twice for Dallas, which leads the series, two games to one, and will again try to extend its lead in Game 4 on Wednesday in St. Paul.

Lastly, the Washington Capitals, the NHL's top team during the regular season, tallied five power-play goals to move to the brink of a first-round sweep of the Philadelphia Flyers with a 6-1 triumph in Pennsylvania. Jay Beagle (Alaska Anchorage) scored the final goal for the Caps, who now lead the Eastern Conference quarterfinal series, three games to none, and will look to close it out on Wednesday.

Martinez OT Goal Claims Cup for Kings

Alec Martinez (Miami) made it Los Angeles’ night one more time—and this time, it won the Kings the Stanley Cup.

Martinez put home a rebound at 14:43 of the second overtime period at the Staples Center to lift Los Angeles to a 3-2 win over the New York Rangers in Game 5 of the 2014 Stanley Cup Final. The goal also captured the Kings’ second NHL crown in three years, after they won their previous three series this spring in seven games apiece.

Martinez also got the game-winner in sudden death in the Western Conference final against the Chicago Blackhawks last month.  Friday’s victory marked the first time that an NHL team had clinched the Cup in overtime on its home ice since the New York Islanders did so back in 1980.

The Rangers, who trailed 1-0 after one period on Friday night after a score by eventual Conn Smythe Trophy winner Justin Williams, got goals from a pair of former Boston College forwards to take a 2-1 lead after 40 minutes. Chris Kreider tied the game on a power play off a cross-ice pass by Ryan McDonagh (Wisconsin), before Brian Boyle scored shorthanded in the final minute of the period after taking a center-ice feed from Carl Hagelin (Michigan) and racing in to wrist a shot past Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick (UMass).

Former Rangers forward Marian Gaborik tied the game in the third period on a power play, knocking in a rebound for his league-leading 14^th goal of the 2014 playoffs. The Kings ultimately outshot New York by a 51-30 margin on the evening, as the home side won for the fourth time in five games in the Final.

Both teams had chances in the extra sessions. McDonagh hit a post in the first overtime, while Kreider was stopped on a breakaway. Tyler Toffoli and Jeff Carter both hit posts for LA, before Martinez finished off a 3-on-2 rush in the second OT.  Other college players who will get a ring from the Kings this year besides Martinez and Quick are defensemen Matt Greene (North Dakota) and Willie Mitchell (Clarkson).

Henrik Lundqvist finished with 48 saves for the Rangers, who lost three games in overtime in this series, the first time they had made the Final since winning their last Cup in 1994. Quick finished with 28 stops in recording his 16^th win of the postseason, and his second career Cup with the Kings.

Quick, Kings Win Game 1 of Final

Carl Hagelin (Michigan) scored a shorthanded goal, and Brian Boyle (Boston College) and Ryan McDonagh (Wisconsin) both registered assists on the evening—but the New York Rangers fell to the host Los Angeles Kings, 3-2, in overtime in Game 1 of the 2014 Stanley Cup Final on Wednesday night at the Staples Center.

The Rangers, who won the Eastern Conference for the first time in 20 years, had a 2-0 lead in the first period, with Hagelin scoring the second goal as New York was killing a holding penalty to Mats Zuccarello. The Western Conference champion Kings, as they have all playoffs, however, rallied to tie the game by the middle of the second stanza.

Hagelin had another breakaway in the final minute of regulation, but was stopped by Kings netminder Jonathan Quick (UMass), who finished with 25 stops. Quick had also earlier made a glove save on Martin St. Louis (Vermont) on a shot from the left circle.

The contest ended less than five minutes into the extra session when Justin Williams beat Henrik Lundqvist (40 saves) to the short side from the slot, after New York couldn't clear the puck out of its zone. The two teams went a combined 0-for-7 on the power play. Hagelin and LA's Willie Mitchell (Clarkson) each had a game-high five shots on goal, as did the Kings' Slava Voynov.

Game 2 is slated for Saturday night at 7 p.m. ET in California, before the NHL's championship series shifts to Manhattan on Monday.

Kings Headed Back to Final After Game 7 OT Win

A former Red Hawk and a former Minuteman have helped the Los Angeles Kings back to the Stanley Cup Final.

Alec Martinez (Miami) wristed home the game-winning goal 5:47 into overtime and Jonathan Quick (UMass) made 37 saves as the visiting Kings eliminated the defending champion Chicago Blackhawks in Game 7 of the Western Conference on Sunday night at the United Center. Los Angeles, which won its first Stanley Cup in 2012 but was ousted by Chicago in five games in last year’s conference final, again showed its resiliency by rebounding from a two-goal deficit and three one-goal deficits on Sunday to win its third Game 7 on the road this postseason.

The Kings led the series by a 3-1 margin with three straight victories before Chicago won the last two games. Los Angeles is also 7-0 in elimination contests in these playoffs, while Quick personally improved to 4-0 in NHL Game 7s in his career.

Patrick Sharp (Vermont) scored twice for the Blackhawks in the deciding game, including a power-play goal, while Jonathan Toews (North Dakota) also connected with the man advantage for Chicago. Toews finished second in team scoring this postseason with nine goals and eight assists for 17 points.

The Kings will now face the Eastern Conference champion New York Rangers, who last made the Stanley Cup Final in 1994, starting Wednesday night at the Staples Center in California. It will mark the first time the two clubs have met in the final, although the Rangers won preliminary-round series against the Kings in both 1979 and 1981, in two and four games, respectively.

Smith Helps Hawks Stay Alive

Ben Smith (Boston College) scored the tying goal early in the third period, and the defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks went on to defeat the Los Angeles Kings, 5-4, in double overtime on Wednesday night in Game 5 of the NHL's Western Conference Final.

After Chicago took 2-0 and 3-1 first-period leads, the visiting Kings rebounded with three consecutive goals to take a 4-3 advantage after 40 minutes of play at the United Center. Smith's goal against Jonathan Quick (UMass) off a rebound just 1:17 into the final stanza pulled the Blackhawks back into a tie. Quick finished with 45 saves for the Kings, while Chicago captain Jonathan Toews (North Dakota) registered an assist on the Blackhawks' first goal of the game.

The victory not only kept Chicago's season going, it broke a three-game Los Angeles winning streak in the series, and sent both teams back to California for Game 6 on Friday night at the Staples Center. Game 7, if necessary, would be played on Sunday night in Illinois, as Game 1 of the 2014 Stanley Cup Final has already been set for June 4.

Quick and Kings One Win Away from Final Again

Former NCAA goaltender Jonathan Quick (UMass) and his Los Angeles Kings are just one win away from a second trip to the Stanley Cup Final in three years.

The Kings dominated the defending NHL champion Chicago Blackhawks on Monday night at the Staples Center in a 5-2 triumph, with Quick making 22 saves in Game 4 of the Western Conference final. Quick has gone 11-4 in his last 15 playoff outings following an 0-3 start against the San Jose Sharks in the opening round, and has stopped 86 of 96 shots in four outings so far against Chicago.

Los Angeles came back to win the San Jose series in seven games, and then outlasted the Anaheim Ducks in seven games in the second round after falling behind, three games to two. The Kings have also rebounded with three straight wins versus the Blackhawks after losing the opener of their Western Conference final series, 3-1, last week in Chicago.

Two years ago, when the Kings won their first NHL championship, they took a 3-0 lead in each of their four series. They ousted the Vancouver Canucks, St. Louis Blues, Phoenix Coyotes and New Jersey Devils in a total of 20 games, going 16-4 overall that spring, with Quick earning the Conn Smythe Trophy as MVP of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. They fell to Chicago in five games last year in the conference final.

Game 5 between the Kings and Hawks this series will be Wednesday night at the United Center in Chicago (8 p.m. ET, NBCSN). The Blackhawks, who got an assist from captain Jonathan Toews (North Dakota) in Monday's loss, rebounded from a 3-1 deficit against the Detroit Red Wings last year with three straight wins in the conference semifinal before going on to top the Kings and then the Boston Bruins to claim their second Cup in four seasons. 

The Chicago power play, however, is functioning at just over 17 percent in the playoffs this spring, according to NHL.com, and is just 2-for-13 so far against the Kings, including an 0-for-7 statistic in the last two games. The Kings, meanwhile, have been scoring at almost a 27 percent clip with the man advantage in the postseason, including a 2-for-3 power-play performance last night.

Kings Win Stanley Cup, Quick Captures Conn Smythe

It’s all over now except the celebrating. The Los Angeles Kings claimed the first Stanley Cup title in their 45-year history with a 6-1 win over the New Jersey Devils on Monday night in Game 6 of the 2012 Stanley Cup Final at the Staples Center in California.

Kings goaltender and former UMass netminder Jonathan Quick also took home the Conn Smythe Trophy as the NHL playoff MVP after fashioning a 16-4 record during the postseason, along with a 1.41 goals-against average , a .946 save percentage and three shutouts. He surrendered just seven goals in the six-game final, in which the Kings won the first three games before New Jersey came back to win the next two. LA then closed it out two nights ago to become the lowest-ever seeded team (eighth) to win the title.

Former NCAA skaters joining Quick on the Kings roster were Davis Drewiske (Wisconsin), Matt Greene (North Dakota), Alec Martinez (Miami), Dustin Penner (Maine), Willie Mitchell (Clarkson), Scott Parse (Nebraska-Omaha), Rob Scuderi (Boston College), and Kevin Westgarth (Princeton). Penner had previously raised the Cup with Anaheim in 2007, while Scuderi won it before in 2009 with Pittsburgh.

Quick Continues to Get Job Done for Kings

The Los Angeles Kings are two wins away from claiming their first-ever Stanley Cup title, and they can thank goaltender Jonathan Quick for getting them this far.

Quick made 16 and 32 saves, respectively, in Games 1 and 2 of the 2012 Stanley Cup Final at the Prudential Center in Newark as the Kings recorded back-to-back 2-1 overtime victories over the host New Jersey Devils.

For the 2012 playoffs, the Connecticut native and UMass product is now 14-2 overall, including 10-0 on the road, with a 1.44 goals-against average, a .947 save percentage, and two shutouts. No. 32 has made 432 saves on 456 shots so far in the post-season, allowing just 24 goals in 16 games.

He's also garnering serious consideration for the Conn Smythe Trophy as NHL playoff MVP, and is already a Vezina Trophy candidate for best league goaltender.

"We know Quickie's back there," said teammate Jarret Stoll to the Los Angeles Times following Game 2. "He kind of calms us down too, with the way he plays and how great he is back there."

It's a far cry from the last two years when Quick and the Kings went 2-4 each time in a pair of first-round losses.

Quick, who has posted 109 regular-season wins for the Kings over the last three years, will attempt to backstop LA to its fourth consecutive 3-0 lead in these playoffs in Game 3 Monday night back home at the Staples Center.

Quick Backstops Kings to Conference Finals

The best player ever to come out of the University of Massachusetts hockey program so far is headed to the NHL's Western Conference Finals.  Jonathan Quick made 23 saves on Sunday afternoon in backstopping the Los Angeles Kings to a 3-1 victory over the visiting St. Louis Blues to complete a four-step sweep.

The eighth-seeded Kings, who last made the NHL semifinals in 1993 when Wayne Gretzky was lining up in LA, dispatched the second-seeded Blues after ousting the top-seeded Vancouver Canucks in five first-round contests. The Kings are the first NHL eighth seed to ever perform the feat of dispatching the top two seeds in the same playoff season.

Quick, who went 23-22-6 for the Minutemen in 54 games at UMass from 2005 to 2007, has gone 8-1 so far in the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs and has allowed just 14 goals in nine contests, with one shutout. He compiled a 35-21-13 record during the 2011-12 NHL regular season with a 1.95 goals-against average, a .929 save percentage, and a league-leading 10 shutouts.

The Kings will now wait to meet the winner of the other Western Conference semifinal series between the Phoenix Coyotes and Nashville Predators. The Coyotes currently leads that series, three games to one, with Game 5 to be played Monday night in Arizona.

Quick Outduels Schneider as Kings Oust Canucks

They faced each other in New England high school hockey, and again right after in NCAA play when UMass did battle with Boston College.

They finally faced off in the NHL this past week with even higher stakes, and it was Jonathan Quick getting the best of Cory Schneider as the Los Angeles Kings eliminated the top-seeded Vancouver Canucks, four games to one, in the first round of the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Quick came out ahead in prep school when his Avon Old Farms team defeated Schneider and Phillips Andover Academy, and did so again in college during the 2006-07 season when his Minutemen took two of three head-to-head meetings with Schneider's Eagles.

Quick completed his trifecta/hat trick on Sunday night as eighth-seeded LA ousted host Vancouver, 2-1, in overtime. Jarrett Stoll's left-circle shot over Schneider's right shoulder put an end to another President's Trophy-winning campaign by the Canucks, and sent LA on to the second round for the first time since 2001 when the Kings defeated Detroit in six contests.

''To close out this series, for me personally, and a few guys in the room, it's something we've never done, so it's a great feeling,'' said Quick, from Milford, Conn., afterwards at yahoo.com.

He finished with 165 saves in the five games, allowing just eight goals while also recording one shutout. He went 35-21-3 during the regular season with a 1.95 goals-against average and a club-record 10 shutouts.

Schneider, of Marblehead, Mass., who will be an unrestricted free agent in the off-season, made 43 saves in a 3-1 win in Game Four in LA to keep the Canucks alive for one more game. He had 35 stops on Sunday, while Quick posted 27 saves and shut the door after Henrik Sedin scored just over 14 minutes into Game 5.

"Quick didn't miss on a single puck the whole series," said Schneider, who finished 20-8-1 in the regular season with a 1.96 GAA and three shutouts.

Canucks starter Roberto Luongo took a pair of 4-2 losses in Games 1 and 2 in Vancouver before giving way to Schneider, who made 97 saves on 101 shots in three-plus games, but couldn't extend the Canucks' season in what might have been his final appearance with the club.

The Kings will now face the second-seeded St. Louis Blues, a five-game winner over San Jose, in the second round. The Canucks will go back and try to pick up the pieces, one year after falling one win short of their first Stanley Cup championship.

Hockey East "Hat Trick" on One NHL Play Sunday

Three former Hockey East players all figured in a penalty-shot situation on Sunday night, in an NHL contest between the Chicago Blackhawks and the visiting Los Angeles Kings at the United Center.

Chicago's Viktor Stalberg (Vermont) was upended by Rob Scuderi (Boston College) as the former broke in on Jonathan Quick (Massachusetts) in the third period. Quick made the ensuing save on the penalty-shot attempt by Stalberg, who could have become the goat of the game towards the end when he drew a penalty in the final minutes of play. The Blackhawks killed off that infraction and the game went to a shootout that was finally won by the Kings, 3-2.

Stalberg helped the Catamounts to the 2009 NCAA Frozen Four, while Scuderi was a linchpin on the Eagles' 2001 national title team, and Quick backstopped the Minutemen to the 2007 NCAA Tournament as a sophomore. Former UVM skater Patrick Sharp scored one of Chicago's two goals in regulation on Sunday night, but misfired on his shootout attempt, while Stalberg was again stopped by Quick. The former UMass netminder ultimately pokechecked Marcus Kruger on the final shootout try to preserve the win for Los Angeles.

The Second Most Wonderful Time of the Year

After the NCAA Hockey Tournament and the Frozen Four, it's the Stanley Cup Playoffs. No, I won't say that claiming the national championship trophy is as storied as picking up Lord Stanley's prize - it's just that college hockey is as sudden death as you can get. Win four and you're number one; lose one and you're done.

The Stanley Cup champion, meanwhile, will have slogged through four rounds of attrition, and as many as 28 games in all before getting the chance to hoist the celebrated 35-pound silver chalice. The first round is arguably the best, with eight series going on in all, and as many as four games on TV a night.

I've still got college players on the cranium watching the pros play in the post-season, though. San Jose beat Los Angeles in the opener of their Western Conference series on Thursday night as Joe Pavelski wristed a shot past Jon Quick in overtime. The first thought that came to my mind was that Wisconsin just put the puck past Massachusetts - and they won't be the last former college skaters in the spotlight as the first round turns into the second, and third and fourth. Perhaps another former NCAA player a la Jonathan Toews will again be the very first player to hold the Cup high when everything is finally sorted out sometime in June.

The only bad thing about the playoffs, NHL or AHL or ECHL, is as the number of participating teams dwindles and you finally get down to the last two, you know another hockey season is almost over and then it's going to be wait until October again.

Luckily that's not for almost another two months.