I always enjoy seeing something at a sporting event that I’ve never seen or at least noticed before.
In two recent Chiefs games we had two of these strange situations.
Strange situation number one: There was a faceoff in the game with only three players, none of which were goaltenders, on the ice.
In the Chiefs Jan. 6 home game against Langley, Chiefs forward Mitch Skapski scored a goal as the buzzer sounded to end the second period.
The ref did a good job calling it a goal. From my vantage point in the press box the puck clearly dribbled across the goal line before the buzzer sounded, but this is where a strange rule kicked in.
If a goal is scored in a situation like that, it obviously means that there was some time left on the clock when the puck crossed the line.
When it’s that close, there is no way the time keeper is going to be able to stop the clock before the buzzer sounds. Because there was time left in the period, the rule is that there has to be a faceoff before the end of the period.
I’ve seen this happen before but I’ve never seen it happen like it did this time. By the time the officials had chatted and confirmed it was a goal, all but two Chiefs and one Langley player were already in their dressing rooms. The ref made the timekeeper put time back on the clock, in this case it was half a second (should probably have been a tenth of a second but that makes no difference) and then made one of the Chief players and the Langley player skate out to center ice for the faceoff.
The second Chief player was technically on the ice but he was leading against the boards at the Chiefs bench.
Strange situation number two: I’m sure this has happened before and I’ve likely been at game where it has but I had never noticed it before.
A goaltender who started and finished a game his team won did not get credit for the win.
In Sunday’s 7-3 home ice win over the Prince George Spruce Kings Matteo Esposito got the start in goal for the Chiefs. The Chiefs were up 2-0 in the second period when the Kings scored three quick goals to take a 3-2 lead. At that point Esposito was replaced by Aidan Pelino.
With just over nine minutes left in the third, after the Chiefs had scored five unanswered goals, Esposito took over for Pelino and finished the game.
For a goaltender to be credited with a win, they have to be in net when their team scores the winning goal. The reverse is also true.
In a loss the goaltender who gave up the winning goal gets the loss. So here we had a game were a goaltender starts and finishes the game in a 7-3 win but does not get credit for the win.
The Chiefs host the Victoria Grizzlies Saturday night.
Game time is 7 p.m. BC Lions linebacker Adam Bighill will be at the game to meet fans and sign autographs during the first intermission.