Friday, February 28, 2020

Emergency Goalie, For the Love of the Game


Today, I read an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal.

In the NHL, they make it a practice of having an emergency goalie in every arena—in case one team loses both goalies to injury.  This person, who is an amateur goalie, is not paid.  They are doing it for the love of the game. Also, even though they are probably a fan of the home team, they have to be willing to play for either team.

Most of the time, they come to the stadium, check in, sit in the stands, eat, and watch the game.  On Saturday, the Toronto Maple Leaves EBUG (Emergency Backup Goalie),David Ayres—a 42-year old Ontario father of three and kidney-transplant survivor, had to fill in for the Carolina Hurricanes.   He had never played a minute of NHL hockey.  He ended up playing the second and third periods, saving  8 goals.


© 2020 Praveen Puri