Former UMass netminder Jonathan Quick was named the Second Star of the Game last night as he helped the Los Angeles Kings take game seven and advance to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs with a 5-1 win over the San Jose Sharks. Quick stopped 39 of 40 shots last night including this one to rob Patrick Marleau:
Over the past four games, Quick is 4-0 with a .963 save percentage and one shutout. The Kings open second round action against the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday, May 3, at 8 p.m.
Another former Minuteman, Matt Irwin, scored his first career postseason goal, San Jose's only goal of the night:
Irwin played 20:52 in the contest and had two shots. Teammate and fellow UMass hockey alum Justin Braun saw 17:36 of ice time.
At least one UMass hockey alum will advance to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs tonight as former Minuteman Jonathan Quick's Los Angeles Kings will square off against the San Jose Sharks and two more former Minutemen, Justin Braun and Matt Irwin.
Braun has appeared in all six games for the Sharks and has a goal and an assist and is +3 in the series. Braun scored the game winner in game two for his first career playoff goal (video below). His assist came on the Sharks' lone game six tally. Irwin made his 2014 postseason debut in game six as well and played 18:43 with two shots.
Quick has been a key part of the Kings' comeback in the series as he stopped 91 of the 95 shots he faced in the squad's three victories, including all 30 game five for his eighth career postseason shutout. Here's video of Quick stopping a shot by Irwin in game six.
Justin Braun (UMass Years: 2006-10) & Matt Irwin (UMass Years: 2008-10) - San Jose Sharks Jonathan Quick (UMass Years: 2005-07 ) - Los Angeles Kings
Regular Season Statistics:
Braun: 82 GP, 4 G, 13 A, 17 Pts, 20 PIM, +20 | Irwin: 62 GP, 2 G, 18 A, 20 Pts, 35 PIM, +5 Quick: 49 GP, 2 A, 2.07 GAA, 6 SO, 27 W, 17 L, 0.915 PCT
Former UMass All-American Justin Braun played in his 200th NHL game on Saturday as San Jose defeated Montreal 4-0. Braun has been a regular with the Sharks since the 2010-11 and is on pace to log a career high in games played this season. He had 66 total appearances in 2011-12 and has 65 this season.
With the start of the NHL season just days away, teams have been providing coverage of their training camps on their web sites. Video updates from the LA Kings and the San Jose Sharks featured former Minutemen Jonathan Quick and Justin Braun.
Jonathan Quick Speaks To The Media On Day 1 Of Training Camp:
Sharks Second-Year Players Are Expected To Raise Performance Level (Braun at 2:27 mark):
Two more former UMass hockey players are also currently at NHL training camps as Matt Irwin is with the Sharks and Mike Kostka (pictured, middle) is with Toronto.
Dick Baker of the Springfield Republican has an update on three former Minutemen now in the NHL ranks: Jonathan Quick (L.A. Kings), Justin Braun (San Jose Sharks), and Casey Wellman (Minnesota Wild).
Dick Baker of the Springfield Republican has an update on Justin Braun (San Jose Sharks, NHL), Matt Irwin (Worcester Sharks, AHL) and Casey Wellman (Minnesota Wild, NHL).
Braun played a season-high 21 minutes in a 3-2 win over Edmonton, while Irwin was reassigned to Worcester. After being called up from Houston, Wellman has been sidelined with the an injury for the Wild.
The San Jose Sharks of the NHL called up Matt Irwin on Sunday from the AHL Worcester Sharks. That gives the Sharks a pair of UMass blueliners as Irwin will join former teammate Justin Braun.
Former hockey All-American Justin Braun was called up from the Worcester Sharks to the NHL's San Jose Sharks on Saturday helping the club defeat the Boston Bruins 4-2.
Dick Baker of the Springfield Republican has a nice piece on the alumni turnout at the UMass Hockey Pond Club Golf Tournament this past Monday. He focuses on Greg Mauldin and Justin Braun looking at their NHL experiences this past season.
Q: How much do you think Justin Braun will be able to contribute next year?
A: I think Justin Braun will be a very important player on this team. His age, his experience. He's a very good hockey player. He's got to work hard this summer and come in and do what he's capable of doing.
The Vancouver Canucks needed two overtimes, but Kevin Bieksa scored 10:18 into the second overtime to send the club to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 1994 eliminating the San Jose Sharks, 3-2, from the NHL playoffs.
UMass alum and former All-American Justin Braun did not see action during the playoffs, but was on the active roster for the duration.
Justin Braun's San Jose Sharks lost 4-2 last night falling behind 3-1 in the Western Conference Final series against Vancouver. The Sharks will need to win on the road to stay alive on Tuesday night at 6 PM.
The San Jose Sharks will host the Vancouver Canucks tonight at 6 PM (PST) in Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Former UMass All-American Justin Braun remains with the club as an active defenseman on the playoff roster.
Vancouver leads the series 2-0 with both previous games being at home.
Joe Pavelsi scored at the 14:44 mark of overtime as the San Jose Sharks edged the L.A. Kings last night 3-2 in the opening game of their NHL Playoff Series. The two teams will meet up again on Saturday. Jonathan Quick was the 3rd star of the game making 42 saves in the loss. Former UMass All-American Justin Braun was a healthy scratch for the Sharks, but could see the ice on Saturday.
The San Jose Sharks have recalled former UMass defenseman Justin Braun to the NHL. Braun was previously with San Jose earlier in the season, tallying one goal and eight assists in 15 games played. He scored his first NHL goal on December 2 against Ottawa. To read the complete release from San Jose, click here.
This week San Jose will take on Detroit tonight, Pittsburgh tomorrow and Calgary on Friday.
In his latest blog entries on MassLive.com, Dick Baker reviews the weekend that was for the UMass hockey team, has a mention of Justin Braun's performance at the AHL All-Star Weekend, and previews the challenge that is the last 10 games of the season for the Minutemen.
Dick Baker continues his preview of this weekend's Northeastern series with a look at the play of Holyoke's Kevin Czepiel. He also has mentions of Paul Dainton being a candidate for the Hockey Humanitarian Award and of Justin Braun being added to the AHL All-Star game alongside Matt Anderson.
Former UMass All-American Justin Braun has been added to the AHL All-Star Team as announced by the league on Tuesday. He joins fellow Minuteman alum Matt Anderson on the All-Star Squad. Info from the AHL release is below:
Braun, a 2007 draft pick by San Jose, has tallied two goals and 13 assists in 27 AHL games with Worcester along with one goal and eight assists in 15 NHL contests with the parent Sharks.
Dick Baker has a couple of updates on his MassLive.com Hockey Blog including a note on Justin Braun being recalled by the NHL San Jose Sharks, freshman Mike Pereira being ranked n the NHL Central Scouting List and Merrimack jumping Boston University in this week's polls.
Dick Baker has four new blog entries in his MassLive.com Hockey Blog as the Minutemen prepare for a home weekend against Northeastern (Friday, 7 PM) and New Hampshire (Saturday, 7 PM).
Justin Braun was sent down to the AHL Worcester Sharks on Wednesday prior to the San Jose Shark game against Minnesota Wednesday night. In 14 games with San Jose, he posted one goal and eight assists, which is third on the Sharks amongst defensemen. With Worcester this season, he has also totaled a goal and eight assists in 17 games played.
Justin Braun, Greg Mauldin and Jon Quick each appeared in games for their respective NHL teams on Saturday. Braun, playing with the San Jose Sharks, logged over 17 minutes of ice time and assisted on the overtime goal which gave the Sharks a 2-1 win over defending Stanley Cup Champion Chicago. Braun now has a goal and six assists in nine games this season.
Mauldin appeared in his 15th game with Colorado last night, and had two shots on goal to help the Avalanche to a 3-2 overtime win in Washington. Mauldin had 17 shifts for 12 minutes of ice time during even strength and shorthanded situations. Mauldin has four goals and four assists, along with a plus-7 rating this season.
Quick was between the pipes for Los Angeles last night, which suffered a 3-2 overtime loss to Minnesota. Quick face 21 shots during the game, making 18 saves. Quick is 14-5-1 this season with a 1.92 goals against average and .927 save percentage.
Dick Baker continues his weekend preview series of the Maine game, takes a look around the league, and brings us updates on Casey Wellman and Justin Braun in today's MassLive.com Hockey Blog.
Braun finished the game with an assist, a -1 rating and played nearly 16 minutes in the game. So far this season, he has played in 7 games with 1 goal, 5 assists and a +1 rating. Over the last five games in has a point in all but one.
Justin Braun had the primary assist on the game-tying goal as San Jose used a three-goal second period to defeat the Detroit Red Wings last night. Braun's assist was actually a shot that was tipped in by Niclas Wallin to tie the game nearly 5 minutes into the 2nd period. The Sharks scored three more goals after that to win 5-2. Overall, he had three shots and nearly 17 minutes of ice time (including over 6 minutes on the power play and penalty kill units).
Congrats to hockey alum and former All-American Justin Braun who netted his first career NHL goal last night against Ottawa. In the 4-0 win, Braun scored a power play goal at the 8:22 mark of the 2nd period giving him a goal and three assists in four games played - not a bad start to his NHL career. He finished +2 for the night and had just over 18 minutes of ice time which was fourth most of any Shark skater last night.
HockeysFuture.com has a d epth analysis of the Worcester Sharks with several mentions for former UMass skaters including what they do well and what they need to work on in order to have a shot at making it in the NHL. Included references are to James Marcou, Justin Braun and Matt Irwin.
Dick Baker had several updates over the weekend on his MassLive.com UMass Hockey Blog. Be sure to check it out each day as he offers a ton of information on the UMass Hockey program!
Here is a pretty good preview of the Worcester Sharks heading into this season. The squad features four UMass players: Cory Quirk, James Marcou, Justin Braun and Matt Irwin.
As the Mass Attack approaches its opening weekend in Minnesota on Friday, Dick Baker has turned up the heat in the latest installments of his MassLive.com Hockey Blog:
The Worcester Telegram & Gazette has a nice feature story on Justin Braun now that he is a full time professional player. The story looks at his addition to the team last season, how he has progressed in the system, and how long he may be with the club as a call-up to the NHL seems inevitable.
"He's the real deal," Coach Roy Sommer said. "The thing about him is that he might not be with us very long. He might be one of those guys who's on the fast track, although sometimes defensemen take a little longer. We see him for a little while, he gets called up, and we don't see him again."
Alex Berry is in training camp with the Norfolk Admirals and HockeysFuture.com hasa season preview of the club along with a few nice mentions of what Berry will add to the lineup. The Admirals are the AHL affiliate of the Tampa Bay Lightning. Berry and the Admirals will open the regular season against a few familiar faces as the Worcester Sharks will head down to Virginia. If Berry makes the club, he will likely play against Justin Braun, Matt Irwin, James Marcou and Cory Quirk of the Sharks.
Dick Baker has several new entries in his UMass Hockey Blog on MassLive.com. One interesting thing to point out is that Justin Braun, James Marcou and Cory Quirk were all assigned to the Worcester Sharks over the weekend. The trio will join Matt Irwin with the AHL affiliate of the San Jose Sharks.
Dick Baker of the Springfield Republican touched on four different topics tonight in his UMass Hockey Blog which you can find at MassLive.com. In his first piece, he looks at the UMass power play and how that will be changed this year with the loss of so many key personnel from last year. His second blog posting deals with Matt Irwin being assigned by San Jose to AHL-affiliate Worcester. In San Jose, Irwin is expected to be among a quartet of Minutemen who include Cory Quirk, Justin Braun, and James Marcou. In his third entry, Dick spoke with Merrimack head coach and former UMass assistant Mark Dennehy on Don "Toot" Cahoon's contract extension and why that is good for the program along with speaking with Dennehy on how he has made improvements to the Merrimack hockey program including several new facility upgrades. Finally, Dick writes about how UMass is looking to keep improving attendance at home games after setting a school-record with an average of 5,313 in 15 games last season.
Former UMass defensemen Justin Braun and Matt Irwin are each mentioned in this article from the Mercury News as the San Jose Sharks rookie camp has begun. Both played for the AHL affiliate Worcester Sharks at the conclusion of UMass' season last year.
The Worcester Sharks will begin their AHL season in just over a month as well - Oct. 9 to be exact - and former Minutemen Justin Braun and Matt Irwin have received a bit of preseason praise. "Some of Worcester's top rookies should include defensemen Justin Braun and Matt Irwin, who played at UMass, and defenseman Nick Schaus, who played four seasons at UMass-Lowell. "We've got some draft picks that will be coming in and some free agents," coach Roy Sommer said. "The kids that played for us at the end of the year in the playoffs have a great opportunity this season. They're not just coming into the league, they have the experience."
