9 ms·

NHL stunner: A 36-year-old accountant who has never played pro stars in win

272 points by wallflower 9y ago

m0ngr31 9y ago
Every team has an emergency backup. And sometimes they will let the other team use them if there is a situation that requires it, since they don't travel with the team. Happened a few days ago in a game in Colorado. He was dressed and everything (no jersey though), but he didn't end up playing. They just sign one day contracts with the teams if they have to suit up. And it's only a few hundred bucks if I remember correctly.
- TylerE 9y ago
  Yep, and it's often a team employee too. I know the webmaster for the Washington Capitols is their backup.
  - gk1 9y ago
    So he’s a web master in more ways than one. (I had to do it. It’s Friday.)
    - tnorthcutt 9y ago
      You could say say he takes care of the team's net
  - walshemj 9y ago
    Interestingly as the number of people in the garage is limited the traveling tech side of a f1 team also double or are stand by for the pit crew.
  - DrScump 9y ago
    Speaking of which, back before the NHL took over all team website architecture with common branding, the Capitals were infamous for having the best website.
- dljsjr 9y ago
  My understanding of the emergency backup rule is that: each team dresses two goalies, and if both of them are unable to play then the team has the right to dress "any available goalkeeper" in the area. The de facto way this works is that each team keeps a running roster of local "talent" that can dress at a moment's notice. So road teams don't travel with an emergency backup goalie[1], which is why they use whoever is on the list for the city they are in. As a side note, I'm a WPG fan so I've had the pleasure of listening to every single news outlet that doesn't normally cover sports rub it in my face today that we got stomped by a 36 year old accountant last night. EDIT 2: This actually reminded me of a less heartwarming but equally fun story that arose from the very liberal emergency goalie rules. One of the greatest goaltenders of all time was a guy named Patrick Roy (French, pronounced "wah"), who was not only incredibly talented but well known for… let's say shenanigans on the ice you don't normally see from a goalie. He ended his career in Colorado in the early 2000s, and in 2013 ended up becoming the head coach of the Avalanche. In 2016, Colorado found themselves in a situation where they almost needed an emergency backup goalie, and Patrick Roy was prepared to dress and play in net for the team. Unfortunately this never happened, but I would love to visit the alternate timeline where it did. EDIT: Here's the full goalie substitution rule from the NHL rulebook: "In regular League and Playoff games, if both listed goalkeepers are incapacitated, that team shall be entitled to dress and play any available goalkeeper who is eligible. This goalkeeper is eligible to sit on the player’s bench, in uniform. In the event that the two regular goalkeepers are injured or incapacitated in quick succession, the third goalkeeper shall be provided with a reasonable amount of time to get dressed, in addition to a two-minute warm-up (except when he enters the game to defend against a penalty shot). If, however, the third goalkeeper is dressed and on the bench when the second goalkeeper becomes incapacitated, the third goalkeeper shall enter the game immediately and no warm-up is permitted."[2] [1]: Other comments have pointed out that the emergency backup is often a team employee, and this can be true (often times goalie coaches or equipment managers act in this capacity so road teams can leverage that), but just as often it can also be a local amateur. Emergency backup goalies are almost never used. [2]: http://www.nhl.com/nhl/en/v3/ext/rules/2017-2018-NHL-rulebook.pdf http://www.nhl.com/nhl/en/v3/ext/rules/2017-2018-NHL-ruleboo... (Section 2, Rule 5.3)
  - CodeWriter23 9y ago
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- noer 9y ago
  It's more every city/arena has an emergency backup. Each team has to have someone on call who can get to the arena in the event either team has a last minute injury to one of their goaltenders. The backup for Philly has "played" for both the Flyers & Hawks. I don't think they even get money [1]. They do get to keep the jersey though! [1]: https://www.secondcityhockey.com/2016/12/3/13829264/eric-semborski-blackhawks-emergency-goalie-flyers-compensation-2016 https://www.secondcityhockey.com/2016/12/3/13829264/eric-sem...
  - marme 9y ago
    They get signed to a one day try out contract. If they are college players they cant accept any money to retain their amateur status but otherwise they get a small amount of money, around 100 bucks
kurthr 9y ago
Now he can say he's a former professional hockey player! Can't be sure if that's good a resume or not, but it's at least as good as being Big Bird in Ice Capades.
- mabbo 9y ago
  "really? What years and team?" "13 minutes of a single game when I was 35. For the Blackhawks." This man would be given honorary Canadian citizenship if he wanted it. He made seven saves!
  - thoughtsimple 9y ago
    He is already Canadian. He said so during the interview but the accent is a dead give away.
    - mabbo 9y ago
      I should have guessed.
gringoDan 9y ago
He's giving Sister Jean and the Loyola basketball team a run for their money as the most heartwarming Chicago sports story of 2018!
atomic77 9y ago
They had to failover to a warm standby only minutes after their hot standby failed too. I'm impressed that there is a process in place for this. I would not have been surprised if the story was that the equipment manager has put on whichever goalie's equipment fits him better, in order to get into the game to prevent a forfeit.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- fredleblanc 9y ago
  Teams have a list of standby players like this in the list. Some teams equipment managers are in the list, and have training if it comes to it. To have to go four levels deep is pretty rare. From the times I've seen this level of standby dressing for the game, usually the first stringer is already injured and the back-up gets hurt in warmups. Then the third-stringer is playing and the fourth-stringer (equipment manager, extreme backup, whoever) is dressed but doesn't play. It just so happens in this game, it got to that.
- QuotedForTruth 9y ago
  I'm surprised its not just one of the players on the roster. Somebody who played goalie in high school or something. In soccer you occasionally see a hurt or red carded goalie replaced by a field player if the team has already used their allowed substitutions for the game. But I guess goalie is just that different in hockey.
  - mikemac 9y ago
    Getting the equipment on is a bit of a process, so I doubt teams would want to be down a rostered skater in the event they need someone to sit on the bench as a goaltender. It's also extremely rare for these backups to see playing time. This is only the second time it's happened in the NHL; the previous was last year when an equipment manager stood in for 8 seconds.
  - johns 9y ago
    Good explanation of why that's not practical from a long-time goalie: https://deadspin.com/1824202533 https://deadspin.com/1824202533
markholmes 9y ago
He was put in because Chicago’s third-string goalie injured himself in the pre-game warmups, and their fourth-string goalie who started the game was injured in the third period. It is REALLY unusual for an emergency goalie to actually play in a game.
neonhomer 9y ago
I'm not a huge fan of hockey but the sport seems to have so many interesting things like this that really sets it apart from other major sports. Could you ever see the NFL letting an amateur walk on the same day and play in a real game?
- noer 9y ago
  I'm pretty sure it's the _only_ time in major professional sports an amateur is able to get into a game.
  - onychomys 9y ago
    Well, there's a famous time that baseball let an amateur have an at-bat: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Gaedel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Gaedel
    - lostlogin 9y ago
      Can you imagine a team putting a dwarf on the field as a publicity stunt now? Moral outrage would explode. I’m not sure how much change has occurred though as other body shapes are used for publicity purposes and don’t cause outrage, so it’s all a bit complicated.
- gringoDan 9y ago
  I don't know a ton about hockey either, but apparently goalie is more analogous to kicker or punter than "regular" positions in football. Even so, in the case of a kicker/punter injury a NFL team wouldn't call someone out of the stands to fill in - they'd sign someone out of free agency to play the next week and would adjust their strategy accordingly during the current game. It's really cool that pro hockey has a unique system in place for edge case situations like this.
  - mikemac 9y ago
    That's a good point though - a lot of times the backup kicker or punter on an NFL roster is someone from a totally different skill position. Ndamukong Suh is a 300 pound defensive tackle but he was the emergency placekicker for the Dolphins for 2017. There are a bunch of QBs who can punt as well.
weatherlight 9y ago
This just made my day :).
chaz 9y ago
His post-game interview is great, too: https://twitter.com/BradyTrett/status/979563904387788800 https://twitter.com/BradyTrett/status/979563904387788800
- mkobit 9y ago
  Full interview: https://streamable.com/qkouq https://streamable.com/qkouq
- creaghpatr 9y ago
  His composure in the game and in the interview is remarkable, he looked completely unfazed.
  - jonknee 9y ago
    Truly an accountant.
lifeisstillgood 9y ago
There is a very variable gap between novice, amateur and professional in different sports - and I think the closer to "natural human movement" the sport is the greater the gap. for example, you could pick any one from the Olympic stadium, give them running shoes and there would be zero chance they would be anything but last over the finishing line. For something like football (soccer) the gap is almost as large - you could take any enthusiastic amateur and put them in the premiership and the results would be obviously bad. Only as you go up the amateur skill rankins would you start to see a closing of the gap - and football / soccer has spent so long honing that gap that even professional players in the second division would usually be shown to be woefully inadequate (Leicester City being the exception proving the rule) But NHL hockey has a huge amount of skill / equipment / training needs before even starting a game - and so the gap between amateur and top player is much smaller than we expect. What I guess I am saying is that 99% of humanity could cross the finish line in an olympic spring (seconds off the time obviously but still finish). but probably 99% of humanity could not even stand up on the ice let alone skate and hit a puck. As such i conjecture that professional hockey has a lot further it can stretch that gap between top professional and amateur - in other words the team that finds how to develop its skills so that a third string goalie would never stand a chance is a team that will lift a lot of trophies.
- timw0j 9y ago
  Another comment I saw elsewhere said that the Elite league he plays in regularly is full of very good amateur/ex-pro players as well. It's not like they picked up a guy off the street and threw the pads on him. He had a ton of experience playing against players just below the caliber of current NHL players. That's not to diminish what he did though. It's amazing that the NHL has something like this place, and the guy seems to have taken it very very well with a lot of humility.
  - zf00002 9y ago
    At least two levels below. Those good amateurs and ex-pros would be in a minor league team if they were good enough.
mxuribe 9y ago
Now this is awesome to hear!!!
yojex 9y ago
OT: The title could use a couple commas to improve readability NHL stunner: A 36-year-old accountant, who has never played pro, stars in win
at-fates-hands 9y ago
I actually play with a emergency goalie that plays for the Minnesota Wild. He does practice with them on a regular basis so its not like he goes in cold or goes from playing with ex-D1,D3 guys to NHL caliber players. It's interesting to hear him talk about the the level of skill the players have. He said there is a small percentage of guys on every team who can put the puck into a hole that has little more space than the puck itself every time. He said then there's quite a drop off where you have roughly the other 80% of the team who are obviously NHL quality players, but make up the difference in skating skills, speed and power.
s2g 9y ago
They weere up 5-2 and he only had to make 7 saves while playing < 1/3 of the game. Good for him, it's a cool story. Hardly a starring role.
DrScump 9y ago
Game recap: http://www.espn.com/nhl/playbyplay?gameId=400962799 http://www.espn.com/nhl/playbyplay?gameId=400962799 See "5:59 Stoppage - Goalie Stopped - Player Injury" 5:59 into the 3rd period

272 points by wallflower 9y ago

Every team has an emergency backup. And sometimes they will let the other team use them if there is a situation that requires it, since they don't travel with the team. Happened a few days ago in a game in Colorado. He was dressed and everything (no jersey though), but he didn't end up playing. They just sign one day contracts with the teams if they have to suit up. And it's only a few hundred bucks if I remember correctly.

TylerE 9y ago
Yep, and it's often a team employee too. I know the webmaster for the Washington Capitols is their backup.
- gk1 9y ago
  So he’s a web master in more ways than one. (I had to do it. It’s Friday.)
  - tnorthcutt 9y ago
    You could say say he takes care of the team's net
- walshemj 9y ago
  Interestingly as the number of people in the garage is limited the traveling tech side of a f1 team also double or are stand by for the pit crew.
- DrScump 9y ago
  Speaking of which, back before the NHL took over all team website architecture with common branding, the Capitals were infamous for having the best website.
dljsjr 9y ago
My understanding of the emergency backup rule is that: each team dresses two goalies, and if both of them are unable to play then the team has the right to dress "any available goalkeeper" in the area. The de facto way this works is that each team keeps a running roster of local "talent" that can dress at a moment's notice. So road teams don't travel with an emergency backup goalie[1], which is why they use whoever is on the list for the city they are in. As a side note, I'm a WPG fan so I've had the pleasure of listening to every single news outlet that doesn't normally cover sports rub it in my face today that we got stomped by a 36 year old accountant last night. EDIT 2: This actually reminded me of a less heartwarming but equally fun story that arose from the very liberal emergency goalie rules. One of the greatest goaltenders of all time was a guy named Patrick Roy (French, pronounced "wah"), who was not only incredibly talented but well known for… let's say shenanigans on the ice you don't normally see from a goalie. He ended his career in Colorado in the early 2000s, and in 2013 ended up becoming the head coach of the Avalanche. In 2016, Colorado found themselves in a situation where they almost needed an emergency backup goalie, and Patrick Roy was prepared to dress and play in net for the team. Unfortunately this never happened, but I would love to visit the alternate timeline where it did. EDIT: Here's the full goalie substitution rule from the NHL rulebook: "In regular League and Playoff games, if both listed goalkeepers are incapacitated, that team shall be entitled to dress and play any available goalkeeper who is eligible. This goalkeeper is eligible to sit on the player’s bench, in uniform. In the event that the two regular goalkeepers are injured or incapacitated in quick succession, the third goalkeeper shall be provided with a reasonable amount of time to get dressed, in addition to a two-minute warm-up (except when he enters the game to defend against a penalty shot). If, however, the third goalkeeper is dressed and on the bench when the second goalkeeper becomes incapacitated, the third goalkeeper shall enter the game immediately and no warm-up is permitted."[2] [1]: Other comments have pointed out that the emergency backup is often a team employee, and this can be true (often times goalie coaches or equipment managers act in this capacity so road teams can leverage that), but just as often it can also be a local amateur. Emergency backup goalies are almost never used. [2]: http://www.nhl.com/nhl/en/v3/ext/rules/2017-2018-NHL-rulebook.pdf http://www.nhl.com/nhl/en/v3/ext/rules/2017-2018-NHL-ruleboo... (Section 2, Rule 5.3)
- CodeWriter23 9y ago
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
noer 9y ago
It's more every city/arena has an emergency backup. Each team has to have someone on call who can get to the arena in the event either team has a last minute injury to one of their goaltenders. The backup for Philly has "played" for both the Flyers & Hawks. I don't think they even get money [1]. They do get to keep the jersey though! [1]: https://www.secondcityhockey.com/2016/12/3/13829264/eric-semborski-blackhawks-emergency-goalie-flyers-compensation-2016 https://www.secondcityhockey.com/2016/12/3/13829264/eric-sem...
- marme 9y ago
  They get signed to a one day try out contract. If they are college players they cant accept any money to retain their amateur status but otherwise they get a small amount of money, around 100 bucks

kurthr 9y ago

Now he can say he's a former professional hockey player! Can't be sure if that's good a resume or not, but it's at least as good as being Big Bird in Ice Capades.

mabbo 9y ago
"really? What years and team?" "13 minutes of a single game when I was 35. For the Blackhawks." This man would be given honorary Canadian citizenship if he wanted it. He made seven saves!
- thoughtsimple 9y ago
  He is already Canadian. He said so during the interview but the accent is a dead give away.
  - mabbo 9y ago
    I should have guessed.

gringoDan 9y ago

He's giving Sister Jean and the Loyola basketball team a run for their money as the most heartwarming Chicago sports story of 2018!

atomic77 9y ago

They had to failover to a warm standby only minutes after their hot standby failed too. I'm impressed that there is a process in place for this. I would not have been surprised if the story was that the equipment manager has put on whichever goalie's equipment fits him better, in order to get into the game to prevent a forfeit.

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
fredleblanc 9y ago
Teams have a list of standby players like this in the list. Some teams equipment managers are in the list, and have training if it comes to it. To have to go four levels deep is pretty rare. From the times I've seen this level of standby dressing for the game, usually the first stringer is already injured and the back-up gets hurt in warmups. Then the third-stringer is playing and the fourth-stringer (equipment manager, extreme backup, whoever) is dressed but doesn't play. It just so happens in this game, it got to that.
QuotedForTruth 9y ago
I'm surprised its not just one of the players on the roster. Somebody who played goalie in high school or something. In soccer you occasionally see a hurt or red carded goalie replaced by a field player if the team has already used their allowed substitutions for the game. But I guess goalie is just that different in hockey.
- mikemac 9y ago
  Getting the equipment on is a bit of a process, so I doubt teams would want to be down a rostered skater in the event they need someone to sit on the bench as a goaltender. It's also extremely rare for these backups to see playing time. This is only the second time it's happened in the NHL; the previous was last year when an equipment manager stood in for 8 seconds.
- johns 9y ago
  Good explanation of why that's not practical from a long-time goalie: https://deadspin.com/1824202533 https://deadspin.com/1824202533

markholmes 9y ago

He was put in because Chicago’s third-string goalie injured himself in the pre-game warmups, and their fourth-string goalie who started the game was injured in the third period. It is REALLY unusual for an emergency goalie to actually play in a game.

neonhomer 9y ago

I'm not a huge fan of hockey but the sport seems to have so many interesting things like this that really sets it apart from other major sports. Could you ever see the NFL letting an amateur walk on the same day and play in a real game?

noer 9y ago
I'm pretty sure it's the _only_ time in major professional sports an amateur is able to get into a game.
- onychomys 9y ago
  Well, there's a famous time that baseball let an amateur have an at-bat: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Gaedel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Gaedel
  - lostlogin 9y ago
    Can you imagine a team putting a dwarf on the field as a publicity stunt now? Moral outrage would explode. I’m not sure how much change has occurred though as other body shapes are used for publicity purposes and don’t cause outrage, so it’s all a bit complicated.
gringoDan 9y ago
I don't know a ton about hockey either, but apparently goalie is more analogous to kicker or punter than "regular" positions in football. Even so, in the case of a kicker/punter injury a NFL team wouldn't call someone out of the stands to fill in - they'd sign someone out of free agency to play the next week and would adjust their strategy accordingly during the current game. It's really cool that pro hockey has a unique system in place for edge case situations like this.
- mikemac 9y ago
  That's a good point though - a lot of times the backup kicker or punter on an NFL roster is someone from a totally different skill position. Ndamukong Suh is a 300 pound defensive tackle but he was the emergency placekicker for the Dolphins for 2017. There are a bunch of QBs who can punt as well.

weatherlight 9y ago

This just made my day :).

chaz 9y ago

His post-game interview is great, too: https://twitter.com/BradyTrett/status/979563904387788800 https://twitter.com/BradyTrett/status/979563904387788800

mkobit 9y ago
Full interview: https://streamable.com/qkouq https://streamable.com/qkouq
creaghpatr 9y ago
His composure in the game and in the interview is remarkable, he looked completely unfazed.
- jonknee 9y ago
  Truly an accountant.

lifeisstillgood 9y ago

There is a very variable gap between novice, amateur and professional in different sports - and I think the closer to "natural human movement" the sport is the greater the gap. for example, you could pick any one from the Olympic stadium, give them running shoes and there would be zero chance they would be anything but last over the finishing line. For something like football (soccer) the gap is almost as large - you could take any enthusiastic amateur and put them in the premiership and the results would be obviously bad. Only as you go up the amateur skill rankins would you start to see a closing of the gap - and football / soccer has spent so long honing that gap that even professional players in the second division would usually be shown to be woefully inadequate (Leicester City being the exception proving the rule) But NHL hockey has a huge amount of skill / equipment / training needs before even starting a game - and so the gap between amateur and top player is much smaller than we expect. What I guess I am saying is that 99% of humanity could cross the finish line in an olympic spring (seconds off the time obviously but still finish). but probably 99% of humanity could not even stand up on the ice let alone skate and hit a puck. As such i conjecture that professional hockey has a lot further it can stretch that gap between top professional and amateur - in other words the team that finds how to develop its skills so that a third string goalie would never stand a chance is a team that will lift a lot of trophies.

timw0j 9y ago
Another comment I saw elsewhere said that the Elite league he plays in regularly is full of very good amateur/ex-pro players as well. It's not like they picked up a guy off the street and threw the pads on him. He had a ton of experience playing against players just below the caliber of current NHL players. That's not to diminish what he did though. It's amazing that the NHL has something like this place, and the guy seems to have taken it very very well with a lot of humility.
- zf00002 9y ago
  At least two levels below. Those good amateurs and ex-pros would be in a minor league team if they were good enough.

mxuribe 9y ago

Now this is awesome to hear!!!

yojex 9y ago

OT: The title could use a couple commas to improve readability NHL stunner: A 36-year-old accountant, who has never played pro, stars in win

at-fates-hands 9y ago

I actually play with a emergency goalie that plays for the Minnesota Wild. He does practice with them on a regular basis so its not like he goes in cold or goes from playing with ex-D1,D3 guys to NHL caliber players. It's interesting to hear him talk about the the level of skill the players have. He said there is a small percentage of guys on every team who can put the puck into a hole that has little more space than the puck itself every time. He said then there's quite a drop off where you have roughly the other 80% of the team who are obviously NHL quality players, but make up the difference in skating skills, speed and power.

s2g 9y ago

They weere up 5-2 and he only had to make 7 saves while playing < 1/3 of the game. Good for him, it's a cool story. Hardly a starring role.

DrScump 9y ago

Game recap: http://www.espn.com/nhl/playbyplay?gameId=400962799 http://www.espn.com/nhl/playbyplay?gameId=400962799 See "5:59 Stoppage - Goalie Stopped - Player Injury" 5:59 into the 3rd period