It has been a long, long road to glory for San Jose Sharks forward Bracken Kearns.
The 32-year-old has played in exactly 500 games in the American Hockey League, but he entered Sunday night with zero NHL goals to his credit. That changed against the Anaheim Ducks, as Kearns slapped a rebound past goalie Frederik Andersen midway through the second period to light the lamp for the first time in his eighth career NHL game.
It was the experience of a lifetime for the career minor leaguer, who used the word “amazing” no fewer than three times when speaking to reporters after his team’s 3-1 win.
“It was amazing, absolutely amazing,” Kearns said, according to the San Jose Mercury News. “It felt so good.”
Though he has never been able to showcase it at the NHL level, Kearns does have an impressive scoring touch. He led Worcester, the Sharks’ AHL affiliate, in goals, assists and points last season and was tied for the team lead in points again this year at the time of his most recent call-up.
Check out his first NHL tally in the video below.
