Editor's note: Sheng Peng will be a regular contributor to NBC Sports California's Sharks coverage. You can read more of his coverage on San Jose Hockey Now, listen to him on the San Jose Hockey Now podcast, and follow him on Twitter. @Sheng_Peng
CHICAGO – Evgeni Nabokov has been teaching Devin Cooley the tricks of the trade for a long time, but Nabokov just didn’t know it.
The 26-year-old goaltender, acquired by the Sharks from the Buffalo Sabers for a 2025 seventh-round pick last week, is scheduled to make his NHL debut Sunday against the Chicago Blackhawks.
The Los Gatos native will be the second Junior Sharks player to play in San Jose, joining Matt Tennyson, and the first goaltender. Cooley graduated from Los Gatos High School and played for the Junior Sharks until 2015.
Cooley said he was about 10 years old when he first met Nabokov, then the Sharks' starting goaltender. Cooley's family has had Sharks season tickets since he was a baby, so naturally Nabokov was the youngster's favorite netminder…and there was another, even more surprising keeper. . But first, Nabokov.
'Must skip dry land [off-ice exercises] Because I had to go to the Sharks' locker room one time. I remember Nabibee showing me how to break in the gloves,” Cooley told San Jose Hockey Now with a gentle smile on Friday. “It was an excuse to take time off from training. So it was such a great moment.”
Cooley said he spoke with Nabokov several times during those formative years, but not after that. After leaving the Junior Sharks program in 2015, Cooley starred at the University of Denver from 2017 to 2020, signing with the Nashville Predators after his junior season. He played in the AHL for the Chicago Wolves, Milwaukee Admirals, and Rochester Americans before returning home.
And a reunion with my childhood hero, now the goaltending director for the Sharks.
“When I first got to San Jose, I spoke to him really briefly, just shaking hands,” he said. “It's been a while. I don't even know if he remembers me.”
But most importantly, Cooley remembered. It is no exaggeration to say that Nabokov and Shark changed the trajectory of his life.
When Cooley was 5 years old, his mother, Heinia, took his older brother, Ryan, to a Cub Scout skating event in Palo Alto. Devin was too young to be left home alone, so he came along too.
“It was my first time putting on skates, and skating was so easy for me. I just picked it up,” Cooley recalled. “My parents saw that and thought, wow, he's really good at skating. He has to be into figure skating or hockey or something. They didn't even know there was such a thing as a hockey program. did not.”
Scott and Heinia Cooley did some research and discovered the Junior Sharks program.
By the age of eight, Cooley knew he was a goaltender. Around the same time, “Miracle,” the story of the 1980 U.S. Olympic men's ice hockey gold medalist, hit the silver screen.
That's how Cooley, more than 20 years removed from the events depicted in the film, was introduced to Team USA goaltending hero Jim Craig.
“We don't have outdoor rinks in California, so you can't go to practice by yourself. But where we grew up, it was a small street hockey area,” Cooley said. “So every day I watched the movie Miracle. Then I got all fired up and motivated and went out and practiced street hockey by myself or with my brothers.”
Besides Ryan, Devin has a younger brother, Brandon.
“It was always me and then my brother who was the goalkeeper on the team. He was always much better than the younger brother, so there would be a million shots, but that's why we We had a goalie,” he smiled. “We were out about five to 10 hours a day. We had a great time playing street hockey from morning till night.”
Scott could relate to Devin's passion for goaltending.
“Eventually my dad actually built a synthetic ice rink in our yard because we were out so long. Very Californian thing, right?” Cooley laughed. “He was also becoming like a puck machine. So we were able to work with his hands. He practiced on his own.”
Cooley's family will, of course, gather at the United Center tonight. His grandfather, his girlfriend and her family will also be there to watch Cooley play for the Sharks.
All of this is still unbelievable to Cooley, who believes that the Sharks' 3-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 4 of the 2016 Stanley Cup Finals was caused by a nosebleed that occurred just because he and Ryan were at SAP Center. He still jokingly accuses her of releasing it. It's Cooley's best and worst memory as a Sharks fan.
“I'm still going to stay at my dad's house years later and make the same drives I did when I was younger. He's in the same house we grew up in,” Cooley said of the trip from Los Gatos to Sharks Ice. Ta.
But to the Sharks and the Junior Sharks, Cooley's story was so believable that when the Sharks dropped the puck in 1991-92, it was part of a larger plan to get the Bay Area to love hockey. Ta.
Cooley is living proof that it works for the Sharks, through good times and bad.
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