When real sports become a sports movie.
So last night, a real-life feel-good sports movie took place in Chicago. That fantasy that every small-town, amateur athlete/dancer/singer has? The one where the Big Star goes down, the coach/director/choreographer points at them and says YOU’RE GOING ON? That happened last night to a 36 year old accountant and beer-league goalie named Scott Foster, who, for 14 minutes, played goalie for the Chicago Blackhawks. Once upon a time, Foster had big time NHL dreams, like every kid who plays hockey. He got as far as the Western Ontario Hockey League, where he played two years as goalie…in 2005. Then he had to get real, give up his dreams of NHL stardom, and move on to a regular life. Last night, he got to live his dream.
Quick primer on NHL goalies: teams always dress two, a primary and a backup. Most teams have three or possibly four goalies in their own system, between the NHL club roster and the AHL club roster. But sometimes there is also what’s called an EBUG, an emergency back-up goalie, which is sort of a freelance all-purpose safety net provided by the home team and is available to either of the teams if they somehow lose both of their actual goalies. They are usually a local minor-league or amateur goalie. They bring their own equipment, sometimes get to hang out with the team a little, and that’s it. Most of them do it for the lolz and to watch the game for free.
Last night, the EBUG provided by the Hawks was Scott Foster. He’d done it before. Sit in the press box, watch the game, go home. One-day contract. They often don’t even get paid, although sometimes the team gives them fifty bucks for gas and parking.
So last night, the following planets aligned to make all this happen: Corey Crawford, the Hawks’ primary goalie and a two-time Vezina trophy winner, was already hurt and wouldn’t be playing. This meant that their secondary goalie, Anton Forsberg, became their primary while Crawford is out, and their third-string goalie, Collin Delia, became the backup. But then Forsberg got hurt JUST before the game (playing warm-up soccer, no less - most teams do that to loosen up before game time). This meant that Delia had to start the game. Forsberg is an experienced NHL goalie. This was Delia’s first NHL game.
The minute Forsberg got hurt, this already became a pretty big night for EBUG Foster. Because the team has to have two goalies ready to play (in the event the primary is injured), Foster would actually have to get into his gear and dress for the game and sit on the bench. The EBUG usually doesn’t do that. They just have to be in the arena, in street clothes. The Hawks’ equipment manager was probably scrambling to get his name on a blank jersey before puck drop.
A few minutes into the third period, Delia got cramps and had to leave the ice. (an EBUG can only be sent in if the primary goalie is ejected or injured - they can’t relieve a goalie who’s pulled for too many goals allowed, for example).
This meant that Scott Foster would be going in. The beer-league accountant, who came to the arena expecting to have a hot dog and watch the game, was about to get in the net and play in the NHL.
So he got in the net, having never played on NHL ice…or even AHL or ECHL ice…before in his life. He finished out the game, playing for fourteen minutes. Against a team heading for the Stanley Cup playoffs that includes Patrick Laine, the #2 goal-scorer in the entire league. He faced seven shots and stopped them all, some of them damn good saves - one of them against Laine himself. Lucky for him the Hawks were up 6-2 so it wasn’t exactly a nailbiter - and the game itself was irrelevant - but who cares? He was named first star of the game and the crowd and team both ecstatically cheered him, because who doesn’t love a regular joe getting to play in the NHL for one night?
Please enjoy this highlight video. It’ll make your day.
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