Kellen Briggs (born June 28, 1983) is an American former professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

goaltender In ice hockey, the goaltender (commonly referred to as the goalie) is the player responsible for preventing the hockey puck from entering their team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring. The goaltender mostly plays in or near t ...

Playing career

Briggs graduated from Roosevelt High School in

Sioux Falls, South Dakota Sioux Falls () is the most populous city in the U.S. state of South Dakota and the 130th-most populous city in the United States. It is the county seat of Minnehaha County and also extends into Lincoln County to the south, which continues up ...

. He played three seasons with the

USHL The United States Hockey League (USHL) is the top junior ice hockey league sanctioned by USA Hockey. The league consists of 16 active teams located in the midwestern United States, for players between the ages of 16 and 21. The USHL is strictly ...

Sioux Falls Stampede The Sioux Falls Stampede are a Tier I junior ice hockey team based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The Stampede are members of the Western Conference of the United States Hockey League (USHL). The team plays home games at the Denny Sanford Premier ...

, where he led the USHL in saves (1,422) and total minutes played (2,529). He spent the next four years (2003–2007) tending goal for the

Minnesota Golden Gophers The Minnesota Golden Gophers (commonly shortened to Gophers) are the college sports teams of the University of Minnesota. The university fields a total of 25 (12 men's, 13 women's) teams in both men's and women's sports and competes in the Big Te ...

. He recorded 25 wins in his first year, which set the school record for a freshman. His sophomore year, he went with the team to the

Frozen Four The annual NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament is a college ice hockey tournament held in the United States by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) to determine the top men's team in Division I. Like other Division I cham ...

, and was co-recipient of the

John Mariucci John Mariucci (May 8, 1916 – March 23, 1987) was an American ice hockey player, administrator and coach. Mariucci was born in Eveleth, Minnesota. He attended the University of Minnesota where he played for both the hockey and football teams. H ...

team MVP award. Briggs' senior year at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

, he served as alternate team captain.Kellen Briggs and Alex Goligoski Named 2006-07 Minnesota Assistant Captains
''

WCHA The Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) is a college athletic conference which operates in the Midwestern United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I as a women's ice hockey-only conference. From 1951 to 1999, it operated a ...

''. Accessed on August 8, 2008. He was the first goaltender since 1973 to receive that honor. He helped the Golden Gophers win the McNaughton Cup and the

Broadmoor Trophy The Broadmoor Trophy is a trophy that has been awarded to the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) playoff champion since 1985. The trophy itself dates to 1981, when it was awarded to the WCHA regular season champion for three seasons, f ...

in 2007. He also holds the school record for most wins in a career (84), and most shutouts in a career (13). In October 2007, Briggs played in his first professional game with the

Idaho Steelheads The Idaho Steelheads are an American professional minor league ice hockey team based in Boise, Idaho, and a member of the ECHL. The Steelheads play in the Mountain Division of the ECHL's Western Conference since the 2016–17 season. In 1996, th ...

. He was picked to play in the 2007 National Conference All-Star game in the

ECHL The ECHL (formerly the East Coast Hockey League) is a mid-level professional ice hockey league based in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, with teams scattered across the United States and Canada. It is a tier below the American Hockey League (AHL). The E ...

, and had his first

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary Minor league#Ice hockey, developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 AHL se ...

call-up when he was loaned to the

Rockford IceHogs The Rockford IceHogs are a professional ice hockey team based in Rockford, Illinois. They are members of the American Hockey League (AHL), having begun play in the League starting in the 2007–08 season. The team plays their home games at the ...

though he didn't get to play on ice. He moved to the

Ontario Reign The Ontario Reign are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL) that began play in the 2015–16 season. Based in Ontario, California, and affiliated with the National Hockey League's Los Angeles Kings, the team plays i ...

in 2008 which was followed by a spell in the AHL for the

Portland Pirates The Portland Pirates were a minor league professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL). Their home arena was the Cross Insurance Arena in downtown Portland, Maine. The franchise was previously known as the Baltimore Skipjacks fr ...

. He then moved to Germany in the 2nd Bundesliga with

Dresdner Eislöwen The Dresdner Eislöwen are a professional ice hockey team based in Dresden, Saxony, Germany. They currently play in DEL2, the second level of ice hockey in Germany. Prior to the 2013–14 season they played in the 2nd Bundesliga (ice hockey), 2nd ...

before returning to the Ontario Reign in 2010.OntarioReign.com - Player Profile
Accessed on 2010-10-09.

Career statistics

Awards and honors

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Briggs, Kellen 1983 births American men's ice hockey goaltenders Dresdner Eislöwen players Heilbronner EC players Idaho Steelheads (ECHL) players Living people Minnesota Golden Gophers men's ice hockey players Portland Pirates players Ontario Reign (ECHL) players Sportspeople from Colorado Springs, Colorado Sioux Falls Stampede players Ice hockey players from Colorado