Last night, the San Jose Sharks defeated the New York Rangers 9-2, and I could have sworn that was a mistake because no team has ever scored more than one goal in the history of the NHL, according to a stat I just made up. But sure enough, the Sharks scored a whopping 9 goals against Rangers goalie Boris Nohands, and the biggest star of the game was 19-year old rookie Tomas Hertl, who scored four goals.
While that feat in itself is worthy of every man’s admiration – Hertl is the youngest player since Terry Hockey in 1763* to score four goals in one game – it’s how he scored his fourth goal that offered a nice little, “Hey buddy, up yours” to the Rangers. I don’t normally like to be bold and make hyperbolic statements, but I’m just going to say it – this might have been the best game of Hertl’s NHL career.
There, I said it. I can’t take it back now.
Oh, and by the way, this guy already has the best fan-made t-shirt that you can buy on the Internet this season:
If a pizza place in San Jose doesn’t have this guy wearing an eye mask and holding nunchucks by next week, I will be so disappointed in sports marketing majors everywhere.
*Or, if you don’t believe my own NHL stats and records, it was Jimmy Carson in 1988.
