In case you thought you’d seen everything hockey had to offer, Thursday night’s Arizona Coyotes-Minnesota Wild game made sure you were proven wrong.
Late in the first period of the contest in Glendale, Coyotes defenseman Connor Murphy engaged the puck-carrier, Wild forward Jason Zucker, in the corner of Minnesota’s offensive zone and accidentally slid his stick through the opening between Zucker’s boot and skate blade. Both players fell to the ice, where Zucker — still unaware that Murphy’s stick was stuck in his skate — yanked the lumber away from the defenseman and somehow managed to stick it through the same opening in the OTHER skate.
This was the result:
After a few attempts at getting his stick free, Murphy basically just gave up and jumped back into the play while Zucker was left to fend for himself while immobilized in the corner. Ultimately, refs decided to blow the play dead once Arizona regained possession so that Zucker could receive assistance.
As he headed to the bench, Zucker still seemed a bit perplexed as to what the heck actually happened but, upon checking the video board, he was able to enjoy the replay and have a good chuckle at his misfortune. Hockey is weird.
