There are quite a few unwritten rules belonging to “The Code” of hockey etiquette, and drinking from a goalie’s water bottle after scoring on him/her is presumably one of them. But that’s just what happened during a recent Finnish Elite League game when Porin Ässät winger Josh Gratton buried a rare goal past the Saipa netminder.
Gratton, a former NHLer who had a cup of coffee with the Philadelphia Flyers and Arizona Coyotes, said that he’s been joking with his teammates about pulling the move for quite some time and decided to jump on the opportunity. Amazingly, he did so without any resistance.
It would appear that either nobody from the opposing team seemed to notice or they just elected to ignore it. Either way, it was probably for their own good, considering Gratton has lengthy fight card (including an infamous bout with goaltender Ray Emery) and a history of being a guy you don’t want to mess with.
Tough guy or not, it’s surprising that he had such a leisurely, uninterrupted skate back to the bench, even sharing a chuckle with the game’s officials. Considering the sanctity of “The Code” in hockey and how sensitively it’s treated, I was hoping for some fireworks.
(Via HockeyWebCast)
