A ‘Shell-Shocked Jared Wright Talks First NCAA Goal, LA Kings Dev Camp

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• Ryan Sikes

Jared Wright could not have pictured a grander stage to tally his first collegiate goal. The LA Kings’ sixth-round pick in this year’s draft broke a 2-2 tie in the third period on Friday, skating hard toward the net to bury home a rebound.

• Jared Wright

# Jared Wright

It felt awesome; I was kind of shell-shocked. It barely crossed the line, but it was just a really good play by my teammates just getting (the puck) to the net, and I just tried to get to the hard areas, and luckily, it crossed the line.

That was huge for our group. It’s such a hard environment to play in; the atmosphere is crazy. When they score goals, they build a lot of momentum in that building. We kind of weathered the storm when they scored, and I think it just showed how resilient our group is and how special our group is, and I think we got the group to win a National Championship. I think it kind of showed this weekend what we’re capable of.

I just tried to play my game and not try to worry too much about points. […] In terms of the first ten games not having a point, I thought that I handled it pretty well, and I just tried to focus on getting better every day and working hard. I think that later the results will come.

I had a couple of zoom calls with them, and I thought the calls went really well. I thought that they valued me a lot. To be honest, going into draft day, I didn’t really know if I was going to be drafted, but I was really excited to be picked by a historic franchise like them.

It’s really been a supportive group. In terms of development camp, it was awesome just speaking with those guys and obviously practicing with guys like Quinton Byfield and Arthur Kaliyev. You really pick up the little details, and it kind of shows why they’re in the NHL, just of all the skill they have and the little details they have in their game.

For sure my shot and stick handling. I think I use my speed a lot, but sometimes my feet move faster than my hands, or sometimes I lose the puck a lot. That’s just something I’ve been working on, just trying to make sure I’m holding the puck and making plays and not overskating plays or over backchecking – just trying to play like a smarter game and just overall ability on the ice.