LOS ANGELES – The San Jose Sharks selected goalie Josh Ravensbergen with the 30th overall pick at the NHL Draft on Friday night, and it probably wouldn’t have happened had he not met Sean Murray a few years ago.
Murray, the goalie coach for the Prince George Cougars of the Western Hockey League from 2016 to 2018, provided some inspiration to Ravensbergen, who was then competing in Pee Wee hockey in the Vancouver area.
Years later, after he was passed over in the WHL’s Bantam Draft, Ravensbergen was allowed to join Prince George with Murray’s help.
“He was kind of the first one who put that belief in my head,” Ravensbergen said. “I remember he came up to me and said, ‘How far do you want to go with this game? I believe you can play at a high level.’
“I’m thinking my head, ‘You know what? Maybe I can do this.’”
After he became the second goalie to be drafted on Friday, Ravensbergen was thinking of Murray, who passed away in 2023.
“That was really sad to hear that he passed,” said Ravensbergen, now 18. “But I’m sure he’s smiling up there right now.”
The 6-foot-5 Ravensbergen, who has grown about an inch per year since he was 14, was considered the best goalie available in this year’s draft. He is the first WHL goalie selected in the first round of the NHL Draft since 2021 when Sebastian Cossa of the Edmonton Oil Kings went 15th overall to the Detroit Red Wings.
It’s also the fourth time in five years the Sharks have drafted a goalie, following Benjamin Gaudreau in 2021, Mason Beaupit in 2022, and Christian Kirsch last year. Kirsch, taken 116th overall, is on the Sharks’ reserve list, but Gaudreau and Beaupit were not signed to contracts.
The Sharks, obviously, feel good about Ravensbergen, who, in 51 games this past season, had a .901 save percentage and a 33-13-4 record. He finished ranked tied for second among WHL goalies in wins, was tied for third in games played, and was sixth in total saves.
In his first WHL season in 2013, Ravensbergen set a WHL record with six shutouts.
“He’s a big kid. He’s athletic. He just looks the part,” said Scott Fitzgerald, the Sharks’ director of player personnel. “We did a little more background with the interview process. Good kid, good character. He’s just a big, athletic. Kind of prototypical today’s goalies.”
Ravensbergen, who has become acquainted with fellow North Vancouver native Macklin Celebrini in the last year or so, said he began playing goalie when he was eight or nine years old.
What drew him to the position?
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“From what I remember, I just hated waiting in lines in practice,” he said. “That’s one of my first memories. Like, I just hated it. I just wanted to be in the action all the time, and I just enjoyed goalie a lot more.”
Ravensbergen has been on the ice with Celebrini at the North Shore Winter Club, remembers one of the first sessions he did with the Sharks’ leading scorer this past year.
“One of the first couple ones that he came out was ridiculous. It’s, like, an hour on the ice, and then he’s out there shooting pucks for another hour, breakaways,” Ravensbergen said. “I got off the ice, I actually lost eight pounds. I (weighed) myself from the gym in the morning. I dropped eight pounds from the skates. Kind of ridiculous.”