December 10, 2003

NHL goalie for a day: Chris Levesque, a goalie for the University of British Columbia's Thunderbirds was given the opportunity to live out a dream when he was asked to backup Vancouver Canucks goalie Johan Hedburg, after Dan Cloutier injured a groin in practice the morning of the game. Listen to Levesque's comments on the game here.. I wonder if he hoped to play or not?

posted by owl to hockey at 09:13 AM - 14 comments

I wonder if he got a 'make-up' note from the coach, or if he's taking the test right now. aside: this type of thing always brings the game into perspective for me. Name another sport where players wear bladed weapons. It's fucking crazy if you think about it.

posted by garfield at 09:31 AM on December 10, 2003

great. now i'm gonna have those horrible images of Malarchuk in my head for the rest of the day.

posted by goddam at 09:52 AM on December 10, 2003

sorry about the macabre item. There's just alot of freaky goalie injuries happening right now. another aside: Does this have precedent: a player having to pay the current team a fee in order to be traded? Comrie might have to give almost a year's salary to get out of Alberta's capital.

posted by garfield at 10:10 AM on December 10, 2003

My favorite goalie injury was when Rich Parent of St. Louis. took an Al MacInnis slapper in practice then missed the rest of the season (and I believe his career) with a 'ruptured testicle'.

posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 10:44 AM on December 10, 2003

Garfield: a friend of mine died when we were 16 from a cut to the throat in practice. I'm surprised it doesn't happen more often, really. As for Comrie and his situation, he brought it on himself. I don't know about precedence, but I have to admire Lowe for making that baby pay, one way or another.

posted by owl at 10:54 AM on December 10, 2003

owl, that's tough. There was a local kid who ended up paralyzed when I was 7 or 8, and there was a huge campaign for neck protectors after that. Agreed about Comrie. Once I figured out how much money he has already made for a young player(way above league average), he lost my vote. But paying to leave? That's gotta be one of the coldest moves a GM can make. I wonder what the NHLPA has to say about this.

posted by garfield at 11:13 AM on December 10, 2003

There's also the puck to the throat that keeps goalie insurance premiums high.

posted by yerfatma at 11:52 AM on December 10, 2003

I would have loved it if the game had been a blowout and the Canucks put him in the net for the last minute of the game. Sadly, it was a close game and they didn't have the opportunity. Also, that link in the post for his comments isn't working. It seems it got swallowed up by the SpoFi machine.

posted by grum@work at 12:58 PM on December 10, 2003

it was misposted try here

posted by gspm at 03:12 PM on December 10, 2003

thanks gspm, i didn't notice that till now. grum@work, i have to agree with you. it would have been something he wouldn't forget, ever.

posted by owl at 04:48 PM on December 10, 2003

For those interested, here is the lone picture I could find of the Malarchuk slashing. Not that graphic, but you get the idea ... I also ran across something about Borje Salming taking 300(!) stitches in a skate accident. Read about it here, in a really interesting interview with the former Red Wing team doctor. Amazing stuff.

posted by wfrazerjr at 07:35 PM on December 10, 2003

great link wfjr, thanks!

posted by owl at 08:00 PM on December 10, 2003

I'm following the Malarchuk image link, but I'm getting distracted by Angelina Jolie in lingerie.

posted by mkn at 08:17 PM on December 10, 2003

I feel that, mkn!

posted by billsaysthis at 08:33 PM on December 10, 2003

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