Get To Know Beaupit, Furlong, Muldowney, Laubach

The San Jose Sharks added five players to the organization in the final three rounds of the 2022 NHL Draft, including a former San Jose Jr. Shark. Four of them spoke with the media on Friday, following their selections.

Goaltender Mason Beaupit, pick No. 108, said he was walking around Montreal with a grin on his face after leaving the draft, but what led to that moment?

Pick No. 140 Jake Furlong watched Timo Meier play in the QMJHL, now they could be teammates one day soon.

Being selected in the draft has changed how pick No. 172 Jake Muldowney is going to approach the game moving forward.

Pick No. 217 Reese Laubach grew up watching Joe Pavelski, could he be following in the former San Jose Sharks captain’s footsteps as a seventh-round star?

Defenseman Eli Barrett, pick No. 195, was not made available to local media. We’ll probably get to know him at development camp.

Four of the newest Sharks prospects share their thoughts.

MASON BEAUPIT

Beaupit, on how he felt about his season with the WHL’s Spokane Chiefs :

I felt really good. I felt like I gave my team a solid chance to win and my team gave me a solid chance to do what I can do every single day. And I think without my team, I wouldn’t be able to do anything that I have accomplished. They helped me out so much, both on and off the ice, and helped me progress as a person and a hockey player.

It was really good over the course of the year, and we as a team got better as we progressed through the year. It was awesome at the end and we made a little push for playoffs and snuck in and it was really good. We’re looking forward to next year.

Beaupit, on how he plays as a taller goaltender and if being a taller goaltender benefitted him in the Draft:

I do like to use my size and my angles as much as I can to keep the game as simple as possible. But I also believe I’m a very strong goalie with reading the plays and a very strong skating goalie, a big part of my game is being able to be a very quick skater. And I know that if I’m able to skate like a goalie who’s 5-foot-10 and I’m 6-foot-5, it’s a very good thing. So I have that aspect. I’m also a very athletic guy, and I’m able to make those desperation saves when my team needs it and I think that’s a really big thing to have too.

It definitely helped. I mean, being a taller guy, you see in the NHL, a lot of goalies are bigger nowadays. But I believe that even if I was a little shorter, I still would have kept working and pushing myself to be the best. And if I did that, I think I would have gotten the same opportunity.

Beaupit, on pulling the Sharks jersey on after being picked:

It’s pretty crazy. I don’t know if younger me would have believed that we made it, but I just am beside myself, is the right word. I’ve been working very hard and my family has made a lot of sacrifices for me to chase my dream. For it to take a step in the right direction is amazing, and a massive win for everyone in our family.

Beaupit says he idolized Roberto Luongo growing up — met him last night for first time, fanboyed out and got a pic. Models his game after Luongo, and, wait for it…Carey Price

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) July 8, 2022

JAKE FURLONG

Furlong, who grew up a Halifax Mooseheads fan and now plays for the team, on if he remembers watching Timo Meier play for Halifax/the possibility of facing Meier in practice:

I do. He was quite the player. The years they had [Nathan] MacKinnon, [Jonathan] Drouin, and everybody like that it was pretty special.

It would for sure be interesting. Yeah, but I’d be looking forward to it.

Furlong, on how being occasionally put in a position to fail has helped him grow:

I’m against top players every night. As a young [defenseman], it’s pretty tough at the start, but playing against first-rounders, they’re already drafted and stuff like that. So being put in those positions really helped me.

Furlong, on how he would describe his game:

Yeah, I’m just a simple, smart, puck-moving D. I’m a guy that can play on both ends of the ice. I like to skate with the puck, but I also can defend against top players and I’m just trying to round up my game and do the best I can.

Furlong grew up in Halifax, remembers watching Timo Meier as a kid. Models his game after Devon Toews

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) July 8, 2022

JOEY MULDOWNEY

Muldowney, on his thoughts about being drafted:

To be honest, I was kind of going in thinking like, you know, maybe one of the later rounds. [I was] kind of mentally preparing myself that, if it wasn’t this year, hopefully next year. But no, it was great. Seeing my name pop up on the screen was just, I couldn’t even describe it.

Muldowney, on how he would describe his game:

I’m definitely a guy that loves to score goals. Skilled. Even though I’m kind of on the smaller end, I still like to think that I can play a physical game. I’m pretty strong, I like to think, for being as small as I am. But yeah, growing up in Buffalo. I definitely have watched Patrick Kane a lot. So I definitely like to [model my] game after him. But I’ve also been told I played a game like Mathew Barzal, too.

Muldowney, on how being drafted changes his approach to the game and what he thinks about how development camp will help him:

It definitely puts things into a more real perspective for me, meaning like, okay, this is real. This can actually happen. Not that I necessarily doubted myself before, but just the fact that getting drafted really kind of staples it in my head that, all right. I’ve been doing a lot. Working out and skating, but I guess now it’s more like now you really got to staple down in this stuff.

With development camp, I definitely am going to learn a lot. Going out, seeing all the talent that’s going to be there, and just being able to compare myself see the stuff that I need to work on in order to get to that next level, I think it will be a great experience for me.

Muldowney is with his girlfriend in South Carolina for her soccer tournament (she's a Gamecock). Says his advisor texted him first, then he kept refreshing the NHL draft pick tracker until he saw his name show up. Says it was the longest refresh of his life

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) July 8, 2022

REESE LAUBACH

Laubach, on what his and fellow former Jr. Shark Garrett Brown being selected in the draft says about the program:

It shows that the Jr. Sharks is a growing program here. It’s a growing foundation. We’ve got some really great coaches, great staff that are helping all of us develop into the player we are today. So yeah, it’s great to see hockey grown here in California.

Laubach, on who he models his game after:

I try to model my game after Jonathan Toews. I feel like I am a fast, playmaking forward, who can put the puck in the net but can also play on the defensive side of the ice as well. I feel like I’m good man-to-man in the D-zone. But I can make things happen around the net and in the offensive zone when needed.

Laubach, on his favorite San Jose Sharks player:

My favorite Sharks player growing up was Joe Pavelski. Actually, as you can see in the background, I wore No. 8 because of him as I grew up since I was eight or nine. But yeah, he was my favorite player. I loved going to the rink, seeing him. I actually met him a couple of times. So that was like, my dream when I was younger.

Laubach, on if it’s hit him that both he and Pavelski went in the seventh round of their Drafts:

No, it hasn’t. Now that you say that, it is pretty awesome. Looking at both our paths, it’s pretty similar. He played the USHL, went to play division one college, and then went to the Sharks. And as of now, that’s looking like what my path is going to be too. So, hopefully, I can just get to the level he was at and get to play for the Sharks one day.

Reese Laubach, naturally, grew up a Joe Pavelski fan. He credits Curtis Brown among other Jr. Sharks coaches, good friends with Garrett Brown. Models his game after Jonathan Toews pic.twitter.com/pPdsWTkinI

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) July 8, 2022

Also, the day after he was drafted, Laubach was on the ice, coaching at a San Jose Jr. Sharks camp:

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