We don’t want to say the words “goalie interference” too loudly, because we know that it stirs up some seriously strong feelings among hockey fans.
All across the NHL, there has been serious controversy about goalie interference in both the regular season and the subsequent playoffs. Fans, players, and coaches alike have been consistently up in arms about various calls and non-calls.
Apparently, those sentiments aren’t unique to the National League.
Last night, during Game Two of the OHL’s Western Conference Finals that saw the Saginaw Spirit host the Guelph Storm, things got pretty heated - to say the very least.
Spirit netminder Ivan Prosvetov, who is known for being pretty quirky with his patented celebrations, is obviously a pretty passionate guy.
The Arizona Coyotes prospect felt he was interfered with on a goal that tied the game up at two goals apiece in the third period.
You can tell he felt this way, obviously, because he goes right after the ref.
Heated, indeed.
So much so, in fact, that the next time he had the opportunity, Prosvetov pulled a pretty unprecedented move.
In an act of total rage, the goalie took the puck, threw it in the air, and batted it into the stands with his stick.
No, we’re totally serious.
Clearly, everybody was pretty confused.
This is definitely a strategy we haven’t seen before, and we’re not entirely sure how it’ll work out from him. While the Spirit managed to take a 4-3 OT win that gave them a 2-0 advantage in the series, they did it without their starter, who was ejected for the play.
The Spirit might have to get used to that.
The precedent set for similar plays made in the league are automatic five game suspensions. We saw this earlier this season, when Canadian World Juniors' forward, Owen Tippett, was slapped with a fiver gamer just for flipping a foam puck into the stands, never mind going full Mike Trout between the pipes.
Though the suspension hasn’t been announced yet, we definitely think that if he was gonna swing like that, he should have at least ran the bases.
