Youtube: "Emergency!" (a last-minute amateur call-up story)
Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2017 10:26 pm
This is a YouTube clip I found, and got a huge kick out of it. I thought i'd share
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.
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.