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Bizarre set of circumstances puts an OHL forward in goal

Connor Crisp

(Photo from ontariohockeyleague.com)

How does a goaltender earn the first star of a game after allowing 13 goals? Well, it helps if you’re normally a forward.

There have been times in the NHL where an injury to a goaltender prior to the start of a game has forced a team to take extraordinary steps so that their team still had a backup goaltender in case the worst happened. For example, back in November, the Minnesota Wild inked 51-year-old Paul Deutsch to an amateur try-out contract because Niklas Backstrom was unavailable. But for the Wild, that’s where the story ended, because Deutsch never actually had to play between the pipes. The OHL Erie Otters were not so lucky on Sunday.

With their normal backup goaltender unavailable before the game began, the Erie Otters were forced to list forward Connor Crisp, who had been sidelined all season because of a shoulder injury, as their number two netminder. However, starting goaltender Ramis Sadikov lasted a mere 1:45 minutes before the Otters had to resort to their worst case scenario: put Crisp in goal.

Crisp put on Sadikov’s skates, which were “three times too small and not wide enough” and did his best to block shots. All things considered, it actually might have gone a bit better than expected. Crisp faced a staggering 45 shots and his team ended up losing 13-4 to the Niagara IceDogs. However, he won over the IceDogs fans, who gave the 17-year-old a standing ovation following the game.

“It was appreciated so much -- beyond words,” said Crisp. “Honestly, it was embarrassing to let some of those goals in, but I think the IceDogs fans knew. I can’t say enough about how fun and classy that was today.”

Crisp is eligible to be selected during the 2012 NHL entry draft, although we think it’s safe to say teams won’t be looking at him as a goaltender.

(Photo from ontariohockeyleague.com)