Jonathan Quick impressed his coaches and opponents when he played high school hockey. It's little surprise to them that he is playing in the Stanley Cup Finals, which begin tonight.
Getty Images
Dan Murphy is better than most high school hockey coaches at testing his goalies in practice. As a 1988 fifth-round pick of the Boston Bruins and a four-year regular at the University of Maine, Murphy knows how to shoot puck.
He never had much luck, however, in beating Jonathan Quick.
"I remember taking slap shots, real bombs on Quickie from between the top of the circle and the hash marks, and I was firing lasers at him," recalled Murphy, the
Taft (Watertown, Conn.) head coach who was an assistant at
Avon Old Farms (Conn.) when the Los Angeles Kings star played there from 2002 to 2005.
"And my accuracy was pretty darn good, too. But his ability to stop shots was unbelievable. He was so competitive. The only way you were scoring on him was banking one off the post and in. At that point, I knew he was special."
The New Jersey Devils are about to find out just how special.
Quick, a 2005 Avon graduate, leads the Kings into only their second Stanley Cup final appearance in the club's 45-year history. He's already a finalist for the Vezina Trophy as the NHL's top goaltender for the 2011-12 regular season. If the Kings should win their first championship this spring, he would likely be a leading candidate for the Conn Smythe Trophy, which is awarded annually to the playoff MVP.
Should the latter happen, the following is sure to be asked:
Has any other high school hockey program ever graduated two eventual Stanley Cup champions and two Conn Smythe winners? Avon Old Farms, coached by 37-year veteran John Gardner, can also claim 1994 Stanley Cup champ and playoff MVP Brian Leetch as one of its own.
"Might end up being a great hockey trivia question," Murphy mused.
There's nothing trivial about Quick, 26, who began his high school career at
Hamden (Conn.), where he lived and grew up several blocks from Murphy's parents. That didn't hurt Avon's chances of landing Quick when it came time to transfer to private school, but the move in joining Gardner (650-205-36) at Avon began taking shape several years prior to that.
Retired New York Rangers forward Mike Backman had coached a hot shot youth hockey team that played out of Stamford, Conn., and featured Quick as its goalie and Sean Backman (his son) and John Mori as two of its top skaters. The three became friends and wound up going to Avon together, winning back-to-back New England Prep School Athletic Council championships, arguably the most grueling postseason high school hockey tournament in the nation.
Even Leetch, a Hall of Famer, couldn't do that.
Quick later headed for the University of Massachusetts, while Backman went to Yale, Mori to Providence College. All are pros.
Quick is at the top of the pro game.
"The fact that Jon is playing at this (championship-caliber) level and accomplishing these things in what has truly become a world game is amazing," said Murphy.
Dan Murphy of Taft was an assistant
at Avon in the Jonathan Quick era.
File photo by Jim Stout
"Not only do you have players from all over the world but they're playing at levels and at speeds that have never been seen before. It's really something special to be doing what he's doing today in what the NHL has become. I don't think there's a better goalie right now. "
Though Quick's reflexes and athletic ability are what people talk about most, Murphy remembers a less obvious trait back at Avon's Jennings Fairchild Rink, a trait he still sees while watching games on TV today.
"(Quick) was one of those kids who never seemed to feel any pressure," Murphy said. "I see kids today, more than ever, putting pressure on themselves, feeling that they have to do well. But for Jon, he played the game out of true love and enjoyed everything he did. You can still see that in him in these playoffs.
"The other night he was on his back and stopped a shot with his foot in the first period and his feet were over his head," Murphy added. "He just does things with a lot of emotion, a lot of passion, and enjoys himself no matter what. It will be interesting to see if he and the Kings can keep it going."
Jim Stout is the CBS MaxPreps Media Manager for the Eastern
U.S. He may be reached at jim.stout@cbsi.com or @MaxPrepsPR
