Very rarely is someone known as the pride of a certain town, for our little south shore town that is Conor Garland. The 19-year-old has played in the QMJHL for the Moncton Wildcats for the past four season. Garland has improved rapidly since his first season in the QMJHL. Garland left Shattuck-Saint Mary's in 2011 and returned back home to play for the Boston Junior Bruins in the Empire Junior Hockey League. Garland started the next with the Muskegon Lumberjacks of the USHL, and committed to Penn State University. But Conor decided to forego his NCAA eligibility and join the Wildcats of the QMJHL.
In just 26 games with the Wildcats he scored six goals, and had 17 points. He came back the next season looking to show that he had the same scoring touch he did with the Bruins. In his sophomore campaign Garland scored 24 goals and had 54 points for the Wildcats. He also had two goals and five points in six playoff games. While his stock was raising in junior many people started to doubt the fact that he could be an effective player. At 5-foot-8 160 pounds, many league experts doubted that he would be drafted in his first year of eligibility. He didn't get drafted his first time around, but he didn't let what the critics were saying get to him.
He came back for his third year with Wildcats determined to prove all of his doubter’s wrong. Conor silenced those doubters with an historic season where he scored 35 goals and 129 points in just 67 games. His playoff numbers were also stellar with 25 points in 16 games for the Wildcats. He set a Moncton single season record for points with 129. But he also leads the QMJHL and the CHL in points, he was named a first team all-star for the QMJHL. He was also awarded the Michel Briere Trophy for QMJHL's most valuable player, the Jean Beliveu Trophy for the QMJHL's most points and the CHL's top scorer award. He was the first American born player to be named the QMJHL's MVP since hall of fame Pat Lafontaine.
He seemed hard pressed to be an early second or third round pick in the 2015 NHL entry draft. But teams continued to pass over him and many thought it was because of his size. He was finally drafted in the fifth round 123rd overall, by the Arizona Coyotes. He had proved the people wrong and was well on his way of achieving his dream. After attending rookie camp for the Coyotes, he returned to the Wildcats for his fourth year. He was looking to build off of what he had accomplished the season before and help his team go farther in the process. After 80 points in just 33 games, the Coyotes decided it was time to lock him up.
The Coyotes signed him to a three-year entry level contract, locking him up for the next few years. An amazing accomplishment for someone who so many people wrote off because of his size. He has proved that size doesn't matter when you have skill, and players should never be passed over for their size. From his small home town by the sea, we wish you luck and hope to see you playing in Boston one day. Congratulations Conor you have worked so hard for this and deserve all the great things that you have coming your way.
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