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Afinogenov surprises Georgia beer league

Taking a break from the facial injuries news, the New Jersey Devils obituaries, and the intriguing yet perplexing personnel moves of the Edmonton Oilers, we have one of those fun and uplifting stories that you can only find once the season is over.

Some beer league hockey players in Georgia were surprised last week when they showed up for a pick game to find Maxim Afinogenov’s name on the list. Ray Melick of The Birmingham News has the fun story:

“His agent said he wanted to skate,” Cheeseman said. “So I told her we had an adult pick-up game on Tuesday nights, and (Afinogenov) showed up. We limit the number of players, so you have to sign in and pay $10. I made sure his name was first on the list.”

Obviously, a pick up game isn’t going to be that competitive for Afinogenov and he was invited to a league game later in the week. He scored 17 of he 29 goals in the game, as he switched teams in the middle of the game. He also never left the ice in the second and third periods, as he was hoping to work on his conditioning leading up to some international play this summer.

The Thrashers forward stuck around after the game, talking with players and signing plenty of autographs for kids with sticks and pucks.