Garret Sparks

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United StatesUnited States  Garret Sparks Ice hockey player
Garret Sparks
Date of birth June 28, 1993
place of birth Elmhurst , Illinois , USA
size 188 cm
Weight 91 kg
position goalkeeper
Catch hand Left
Draft
NHL Entry Draft 2011 , 7th round, 190th position
Toronto Maple Leafs
Career stations
2006-2010 Chicago Mission
2010-2013 Guelph Storm
2013-2018 Toronto Marlies
2018-2019 Toronto Maple Leafs
since 2019 Vegas Golden Knights
Chicago Wolves

Garret Sparks (born June 28, 1993 in Elmhurst , Illinois ) is an American ice hockey goalkeeper who has been under contract with the Vegas Golden Knights of the National Hockey League since July 2019 and for their farm team , the Chicago Wolves , in the American Hockey League is playing. Previously, Sparks was active in the organization of the Toronto Maple Leafs for six years , the first five years of which he was mainly in the roster of the Toronto Marlies farm team in the AHL, with which he won the Calder Cup in 2018 .

Career

Sparks in the jersey of the Toronto Marlies

Sparks, who grew up in the US state of Illinois , spent his junior years between 2006 and 2010 initially in the metropolis of Chicago , where he passed through the age groups of the Chicago Mission junior team . From there, the goalkeeper moved to the Canadian junior league Ontario Hockey League (OHL) in the summer of 2010, contrary to common practice for a US junior player . There he guarded the gate of the Guelph Storm for the next three years , who had chosen him in the OHL Priority Selection . After serving as a back-up there in his rookie year , he was the undisputed regular goalkeeper between 2011 and 2013. In the 2011 NHL Entry Draft he was selected in the seventh round at 190th position by the Toronto Maple Leafs from the National Hockey League .

In March 2013, the 19-year-old finally signed a professional contract in Toronto and made his debut for the Maple Leafs farm team Toronto Marlies in the American Hockey League at the end of the 2012/13 season . At the beginning of the 2013/14 season , Sparks was a permanent member of the Marlies squad and in the following two years also played for the Orlando Solar Bears in the ECHL . He finally made his NHL debut during the 2015/16 season , when he came to 17 missions due to injuries to regular staff Jonathan Bernier and James Reimer . On his debut, he posted a shutout , which he succeeded as the first goalkeeper in the history of the Maple Leafs. Mainly he was active in this season for the Marlies in the AHL.

For the next two years, this should have been Sparks' last appearances in the NHL, as he established himself as the goalkeeper of the Toronto Marlies and was an integral part of the team that won the Calder Cup at the end of the 2017/18 season. In addition, he received a nomination for the AHL First All-Star Team , was awarded the Aldege “Baz” Bastien Memorial Award as the best goalkeeper in the league and shared the Harry “Hap” Holmes Memorial Award with his goalkeeper colleague Calvin Pickard for the lowest goal scored among all goalkeeping duos in the league. For his achievements, he was promoted to the back-up of the Toronto Maple Leafs behind Frederik Andersen at the beginning of the 2018/19 season and prevailed against Curtis McElhinney and Calvin Pickard. He played 20 games for Toronto over the course of the season, but he was not always convincing. In July 2019, he was finally transferred to the Vegas Golden Knights in exchange for David Clarkson and a four-round vote in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft .

International

On the international stage, Sparks took part in the U20 Junior World Championship 2013 in Ufa , Russia . Behind John Gibson and Jon Gillies , he was the third goalkeeper in the squad of the US team and remained without a minute during the entire tournament. The US-Americans won the gold medal at the end of the tournament with a 3-1 win over Sweden .

Achievements and Awards

International

Career statistics

Status: end of the 2018/19 season

Regular season Playoffs
season team league Sp S. N OTN Min GT SO GTS Sv% Sp S. N Min GT SO GTS Sv%
2010/11 Guelph Storm OHL 19th 8th 6th 1 972 59 0 3.64 89.0 - - - - - - - -
2011/12 Guelph Storm OHL 59 27 25th 4th 3304 171 5 3.11 90.7 6th 2 4th 323 24 0 4.45 88.1
2012/13 Guelph Storm OHL 60 36 17th 4th 3440 152 7th 2.65 91.7 5 1 4th 275 14th 0 3.05 92.0
2012/13 Toronto Marlies AHL 3 2 0 1 189 8th 0 2.53 89.5 1 0 0 14th 1 0 4.23 90.0
2013/14 Toronto Marlies AHL 21st 11 6th 1 1094 48 0 2.63 91.5 - - - - - - - -
2013/14 Orlando Solar Bears ECHL 10 4th 6th 0 552 26th 1 2.82 91.6 - - - - - - - -
2014/15 Toronto Marlies AHL 2 1 0 0 120 2 1 1.00 96.6 - - - - - - - -
2014/15 Orlando Solar Bears ECHL 36 21st 7th 3 1946 76 5 2.34 93.6 6th 2 4th 342 17th 0 2.98 92.1
2015/16 Toronto Marlies AHL 21st 14th 4th 3 1212 47 3 2.33 92.8 5 2 2 235 9 1 2.30 91.5
2015/16 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 17th 6th 9 1 975 49 1 3.02 89.3 - - - - - - - -
2015/16 Orlando Solar Bears ECHL 1 1 0 0 60 1 0 1.00 96.2 - - - - - - - -
2016/17 Toronto Marlies AHL 31 21st 9 0 1774 64 5 2.16 92.2 2 1 1 98 4th 0 2.46 90.0
2017/18 Toronto Marlies AHL 43 31 9 2 2507 75 6th 1.79 93.6 19th 14th 5 1134 42 2 2.22 91.5
2018/19 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 20th 8th 9 1 1105 58 1 3.15 90.2 - - - - - - - -
OHL total 138 71 48 9 7716 382 12 2.98 90.9 11 3 8th 598 38 0 3.81 89.9
ECHL total 47 26th 13 3 2558 103 6th 2.41 93.2 6th 2 4th 342 17th 0 2.98 92.1
AHL total 121 80 28 7th 3357 244 15th 2.12 92.7 25th 16 7th 613 52 3 2.26 91.5
NHL overall 37 14th 18th 2 2080 107 2 3.09 89.8 - - - - - - - -

International

Represented the USA at:

year team event result Sp S. N Min GT SO GTS Sv%
2013 United States U20 World Cup 1st place, gold Without any effort

( Legend for the goalkeeper statistics: GP or Sp = total games; W or S = wins; L or N = defeats; T or U or OT = draws or overtime or shootout defeats; min. = Minutes; SOG or SaT = shots on goal; GA or GT = goals conceded; SO = shutouts ; GAA or GTS = goals conceded ; Sv% or SVS% = catch quota ; EN = empty net goal ; 1  play-downs / relegation ; italics : statistics not complete)

Web links

Commons : Garret Sparks  - collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Sparks, Garret
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American ice hockey goalkeeper
DATE OF BIRTH June 28, 1993
PLACE OF BIRTH Elmhurst , Illinois