One Way To Express Displeasure With Your Goaltender
I've played a bit of ice hockey in my life, never on the professional level, mind you, but enough to know that there is a certain etiquette when it comes to your on-ice behavior after a frustrating goal is scored against you.
When that happened to me I would do one of three things:
-scoop the puck out of the net for the goalie, so he wouldn't have to bother with the indignity of turning around and fishing it out himself.
-ignore him altogether, so as to not hurt his confidence.
-give him a light whack on the leg pads with my stick, as if to say "hey- don't worry about it."
Well, in last night's National Hockey League action, when the Atlanta Thrashers faced off against the Florida Panthers, Florida defenseman Keith Ballard, clearly upset over a goal poked past his all star goaltender Tomas Vokoun, went for a variation on the"light whack on the pads" option.
Except it wasn't really light. Or on the pads.
After Ballard's careless stick swing hit his mask, Vokoun went down hard and was taken from the ice on a stretcher, where it was reported later he suffered an ear laceration and was alert. The Panthers went on to lose the game after Atlanta's winning goal deflected off of Ballard's stick.
Ouch.
Here's another look at the incident, in eye-popping 3-D! (glasses required)
Man- that's one tough goaltender..
