Los Gatos Native's Pro Hockey Career Off To Strong Start

LOS GATOS, CA — Predicting how well an elite athlete adapts to the pro game straight out of college is an inexact science.

Devin Cooley seems to be handling it just fine.

The Los Gatos native and former San Jose Jr. Shark standout is excelling in his first year of professional hockey.

Cooley, who signed his first NHL contract in September, was named the ECHL's Goaltender of the Week.

The 23-year-old who now plays for the Florida Everblades, a minor league affiliate of the Nashville Predators, turned back 39 of 40 shots in a 5-1 victory over Greenville Saturday.

He is 2-0-0 and ranks second in the ECHL with a 1.50 goals-against average and a .952 save percentage.

Cooley signed with Nashville after three seasons at Denver University in which the 6-foot-5 192-pounder compiled a 1.93 goals-against average, the second highest in school history, and .927 save percentage in 32 games.

Cooley played all of his youth career in the Jr. Sharks program, from in-house to the 18AAA level.

He also competed in the USHL, NAHL and the BCHL before launching his collegiate career at Denver University.

Correction: A previous version of this article referred to the ECHL as the "East Coast Hockey League." A reader notified Patch that the league no longer goes by the name it used from its inception in 1988 through the 2002-03 season. The league changed its name to the "ECHL" May 19, 2003 after welcoming seven expansion teams from the western United States.