{"id":397579,"date":"2026-07-14T05:54:07","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T05:54:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/397579\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T05:54:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T05:54:07","slug":"kirsch-bounces-back-on-winning-memorial-cup-why-he-chose-quinnipiac","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/397579\/","title":{"rendered":"Kirsch\u00a0Bounces Back: On Winning Memorial Cup, Why He Chose Quinnipiac"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Christian Kirsch had a difficult 2024-25 season,\u00a0getting cut and\u00a0moving between the USHL and the NAHL.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He said it was particularly frustrating to have to leave his USHL team,\u00a0the Green Bay Gamblers,\u00a0where he had been able to live <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reels\/C6dauHFNDgI\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">with his brother<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But this year, he found stability with the Kitchener Rangers in the OHL, winning the Memorial Cup with them.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Through that adversity, Kirsch found ways to learn from the experience.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt really\u00a0helped,\u201d Kirsch\u00a0said\u00a0at San Jose Sharks development camp.\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s\u00a0definitely going to be an experience that\u2019s going to help me for the rest of my career, not giving up, not getting too frustrated, don\u2019t stop the work, and keep doing what you can.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Kirsch was drafted in the\u00a0fourth round\u00a0in 2024\u00a0by the\u00a0San Jose\u00a0Sharks.\u00a0He spent last season with the\u00a0Rangers, playing 41 games with\u00a0a 2.42 goals\u00a0against average and a .899 save %\u00a0en\u00a0route to the Memorial Cup.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Next season, Kirsch is headed to Quinnipiac University, Collin Graf\u2019s alma mater.\u00a0There, he hopes to build upon\u00a0his season in Kitchener.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cStaying consistent, bringing that performance again,\u201d Kirsch said.\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s\u00a0really important\u00a0as a goaltender to show that\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0consistent and not that\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0one season up and one season down again.\u00a0That\u2019s\u00a0really important.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Kirsch spoke on\u00a0building consistency, winning the Memorial Cup,\u00a0and his NCAA plans.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On what helped improve his game and bring consistency\u2026\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I kept working on little habits and details,\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0really change anything throughout the year. Even if there was a part of the year that\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0work that well, I just kept working and focused on the dull things.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On winning the Memorial Cup this season\u2026\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It was really, really exciting.\u00a0A really good feeling for me, for my confidence, and everything.\u00a0It was great.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On playing behind a\u00a0really good\u00a0team in Kitchener\u2026\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It was a little hard at the start, obviously only getting like\u00a020 shots\u00a0wasn\u2019t\u00a0always easy. But we adjusted to the play style of the team. It was\u00a0a great team, and I was just trying my best to help them out.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On his third\u00a0San Jose Sharks\u2019\u00a0Development Camp\u2026\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They all feel\u00a0pretty much the\u00a0same. The first year I was with\u00a0Macklin,\u00a0(but) the crowd was huge here (this year) too. All of them are\u00a0great players, no matter if\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0the first round or undrafted, or just an invite.\u00a0They\u2019re all great players, and it was really fun.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On decommitting\u00a0from UMass\u00a0and choosing to\u00a0commit\u00a0to Quinnipiac\u2026\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There were a\u00a0couple\u00a0schools. I was\u00a0pretty much in\u00a0the high of the season when UMass de-committed, so there\u00a0was\u00a0quite a few schools. But we just thought that Quinnipiac was the best fit\u00a0with\u00a0the goalie\u00a0coaching, with the goalie situation they have right now, and with the coaching staff there. So\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0how I made the decision.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On what he expects to be different in NCAA hockey compared to the OHL\u2026\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s\u00a0older guys, a little more mature, a\u00a0little smarter.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0the next step towards pro, and I feel like\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0ready for that, and I need to take that step. I\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0really know what to expect, but\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0a structured game there, and that fits my playing style\u00a0pretty good.\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0excited to get going.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>                                                    <script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Christian Kirsch had a difficult 2024-25 season,\u00a0getting cut and\u00a0moving between the USHL and the NAHL.\u00a0 He said it&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":397580,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[103160,9080,159691,125985,131750,142362,98959,88,90,89,98,159692,127114],"class_list":["post-397579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-christian-kirsch","tag-development-camp","tag-hristian-kirsch","tag-kitchener-rangers","tag-memorial-cup","tag-nahl","tag-quinnipiac","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news","tag-san-jose-sharks","tag-university-of-massachusetts","tag-ushl"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=397579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397579\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/397580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=397579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=397579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=397579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}