A few days ago, something amazing happened in the National Hockey League. This is coming from someone who doesn’t follow hockey at all, even when the St. Louis Blues took home the championship trophy last year.
The Carolina Hurricanes were winning against the Toronto Maple Leafs last week when one of their two goalies was injured. Then the second goalie was injured too, leaving…the zamboni driver.
That’s right: the Hurricanes’ emergency goalie is the person who maintains the ice–he doesn’t usually skate on it. So he suited up and proceeded to save 8 of 10 shots to preserve the win.
Apparently this isn’t even the first time this has happened. A few years ago, the Chicago Blackhawks’ accountant did almost exactly the same thing for his team.
I can speak on behalf of sports fans and former high school athletes to say that this is a true fairy tale. Can you imagine attending a soccer game and hearing your name called 40 minutes into the game? Or if your football team’s kicker goes down, and you need to come in to kick extra points and field goals? I’d be a nervous wreck, but it would also be amazing.
Again, I don’t follow hockey, but I love that their emergency goalies are just random team employees (though it appears these employees sometimes practice with the team). More sports should do that. Which sport would you be most excited to do this for you?
I am a hockey fan and I still love the story. I also was blown away by the story of the *first* emergency goalie: https://www.reddit.com/r/hockey/comments/f9vzvc/wayback_wednesday_the_jumpy_little_guy_the_nhls/
That’s amazing! Thanks for sharing, Dave.
The Vancouver Canucks used an emergency backup briefly in a game a few years back too. Was a nail biting game to watch.
David Ayers started a little shaky but he pulled it off and everyone was thrilled. In the world of professional sports, these things don’t happen very often but it’s always cool when it does.
A few years back, John Scott made it to the NHL All Star Game as a fan vote. If you don’t know his story, you should read it, Jamey, it’s pretty amazing too.
Thanks Chris! I listened to a podcast earlier this year about John Scott’s story, and I agree that it’s amazing. 🙂