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Youtube: "Emergency!" (a last-minute amateur call-up story)

Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2017 10:26 pm
by Reg
This is a YouTube clip I found, and got a huge kick out of it. I thought i'd share :D

A bit of back story

Can you imagine being a reasonably good amateur athlete in your sport, wandering the streets one day, and getting a phone call from the major league team in your city, telling you that you need to head down to the stadium as an emergency replacement?

In baseball, I imagine it would be next to impossible for this to happen. I think nearly the whole team would have to get appendicitis at the same time, hours before a game before they would resort to that.

But ... in hockey, this is something that has happened on quite a few occasions!

For those less versed in Hockey rules, NHL regulations stipulate that two goaltenders must be dressed and ready to play during a game. If a goaltender is injured within short notice of a game (24-48 hours or so), they will attempt to fly/drive down their minor league affiliate's goaltender to take his place, if he is in a nearby city. But .. on the day of a game, sometimes that isn't possible, and so to avoid getting a forfeit, they need to find the best available amateur goaltender in town that day... whoever that might be... to sit on the team's bench!

So, this clip is about Chris Levesque, a reserve goaltender at his local university who went through exactly that in 2003 when his home-town NHL Vancouver Canucks called him! Check it out.


Re: Youtube: "Emergency!" (a last-minute amateur call-up sto

Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2017 10:33 pm
by Sandgnats
awesome! best seat in the house!

Re: Youtube: "Emergency!" (a last-minute amateur call-up sto

Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2017 2:21 am
by Leones
Nice story. The clips of that 'active' goalie boggle the mind. He was nearly at the blue line. Can't believe he'd ever get so far out of the crease. Amazing.

Re: Youtube: "Emergency!" (a last-minute amateur call-up sto

Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2018 8:10 pm
by Reg
It took decades, but an "Emergency Backup" finally DID play in an NHL game after all!

On March 29th, Chicago's main goaltender Anton Forsberg was injured during morning warmup. This meant that the team's #2 goalie Collin Delia would play, but with too little time to bring in a goalie from their minor leagues for that night's game to stand in as the new backup, they asked 36-year-old Scott Foster, a local 'beer league' goalie and Accountant by day, to register and dress as the team's #2.

Remember... in all the years of "Emergency Backup" goaltenders, none of them had ever needed to play! So, he planned to just sit around and watch the game from the bench.

Well, with 15 minutes left to go in the game, the sports gods intervened, and Delia injured himself, too!

So, Scott Foster suddenly made his very unlikely NHL debut versus the NHL powerhouse Winnipeg Jets.