ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Jack Quinn caught mono at an awful time: The Sabres prospect was playing some of the best hockey of his life, racking up 24 points in 17 AHL games.

What You Need To Know

  • Sabres prospect Jack Quinn returns to the Amerks lineup after a bout with mononucleosis
  • Quinn hasn't played since Nov. 27, and says he suffered from bad symptoms for five to six days
  • Despite missing five and a half weeks worth of games, Quinn still ranks in the AHL's top 15 for goal-scoring and total points

The 20-year-old still tried to see the bright side.

"There’s a lot worse injuries out there," he said. "I missed 10 games, I missed a month. It’s not a huge deal. I just try to look at it like that. It was nice to go home. I just played video games. Killed time. Watched hockey at night. Didn’t do much at all, but it was good to be home." 

Quinn felt sick in early December, and tested positive for mono after testing negative for COVID-19 and the flu. His doctors told him the best treatment would be to take it easy.

"People that try to do too much too early — there’s some correlation with mono sticking around for a while," he heard from doctors. "So they wanted me to not do too much too early, but I did a few little things in the basement. I stick-handled a lot."

The Sabres prospect says symptoms were really bad for five or six days. Seth Appert, his coach with the Rochester Amerks, said it’s a testament to Quinn’s offseason training that it wasn’t worse.

"If you’re an athlete that isn’t taking care of yourself at an elite level, like you need to at the second-best league in the world, and you get mono, you’re going to be out longer and it’s going to take longer to come back to game shape," he said. "A player like Jack, the way he approaches things, it’s just going to be quicker. He is a savage worker."

"I feel like I’m in good enough shape to play well," Quinn said. "I don’t think I’m in the shape I was before I got sidelined with mono. I think it’ll probably take a game or two, naturally. Just because I haven’t played a game in a month and you can’t really do anything to replicate that."

Quinn was among the AHL's top point-getters before he got sick and missed five and a half weeks worth of games. Even with that gap, he’s still top-15 in the league for goals and points.