(Pro Hockey Talk is taking a look back at the year in hockey. We’ll be presenting you with the best goals, saves, moments, players and much more as we bring you the best of 2017.)
We’ll remember the champions, the award winners, the big goals and the big saves from the past year, but there are also plenty of stories that were memorable in different ways. Some are serious, some are fun, and in the end they’ll be part of the story that hockey in the year 2017 told.
Here are our 15 favorite moments from the hockey world in 2017.
15. Dart Guy introduces himself to the hockey world
Jason Maslakow drove from Waterloo, Ont. to Washington D.C. for Game 2 of the Toronto Maple Leafs’ first-round series against the Washington Capitals in April. Television cameras caught him during the game and the reaction from fans went through the roof. His face was painted with a leaf on it, his beard was dyed blue, there was a Stanley Cup shaved into his head and a cigarette hanging from his mouth. He quickly became known as “Dart Guy,” and fans soon turned the image into memes and used it as their social media avatars.
The 37-year-old’s life changed after that night. The Leafs invited him to attend Game 3 at Air Canada Centre; he took part in various appearances around the city; he eventually gave up smoking and encouraged other fans to follow him; and he even has his own TSN radio show.
14. Andre Burakovsky mistakes random car for Uber, gets ride anyway
We’ve all had this experience, right? You’re waiting on your Uber or Lyft driver to arrive and you think you see them, you pop open the door and then you are embarrassed to learn you almost entered the wrong car. Well, it happened to the Washington Capitals forward last February on his way home from a Top Golf location during the team’s bye week. The driver, Manny Nicolas, didn’t believe who it was at first and was finally convinced when Burakovsky showed him some photos on his phone.
13. Meet the “Dancing goalie from Brampton”
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNz6oSrZDAk%5D
Noah Young may be eight years old, but he’s got the dances moves of a seasoned professional. While he had been dancing regularly during games during his young career, one set of moves was caught on video and went viral as he bounced to “Juju On That Beat” by Zay Hilfigerrr and Zayion McCall. That led to him being invited to practice for the ECHL’s Brampton Beast where he got to teach goaltenders Andrew D’Agostini and Zach Fucale exactly what it takes to look smooth out there.
12. Hockey player gets new heart, hits the ice again
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qph-MW6fqZE%5D
Six years ago, Tyler Jaenicke ended a shift unable to catch his breath. After experiencing the issue for several days, he was checked out by a doctor and told the life-altering news. At age 17, he was diagnosed with idiopathic cardiomyopathy, a form of heart failure. He had a implantable cardioverter defibrillator put in and had to walk away from the game he loved. In 2016, his heart began failing and surgery was required. He was then placed on the heart transplant list.
Two months after having a battery-operated pump implanted, Jaenicke was notified that a donor heart was available. Forty-eight hours later he underwent a transplant and then went through months of rehab, all while sticking to his goal of playing hockey again. He succeeded and returned to the ice in October as part of Davenport University’s hockey team.
“You just can’t give up on life no matter what it is you’re going through,” Jaenicke told MLive.com. “I’ve been able to reach out to a few kids going through what I went through, and I understand what a difference that can make.”
11. Vladimir Tarasenko’s special birthday surprise
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oLzf7lBsbQ%5D
During the St. Louis Blues’ Casino Night, Tarasenko was the winning bidder on a trip for two on the team plane to see them on the road in Arizona and Colorado. The prize obviously wasn’t for the Russian superstar but instead for his friend Arianna Dougan, an 11-year-old who was fighting neuroblastoma, a type of childhood cancer. A week later, she was invited to meet the team after practice where she received a jersey from head coach Mike Yeo and also handed Tarasenko a box full of cupcakes (blue sprinkles, of course.)
Sadly, Ari would pass away in November and the Blues would honor her during their Hockey Fights Cancer night by wearing bedazzled warmups jerseys.
10. Connor McDavid and that awkward fan photo
It’s no surprise that the Edmonton Oilers star is stopped at the airport with photo requests from fans, but one last May took on a life of its own because of the look on his face. He told the story of what happened on the Puck Soup Podcast in June:
“I was walking into the security line and I had actually walked past them. And then they say ‘hey Connor can we get a picture?’ and I say ‘sure’ and sure enough they come up to me and start hugging me. Both of them. Both of them were hugging me. And sure enough there was someone who had their phone ready to take a picture. They had already turned around and were ready for the picture and took the picture before I had even realized what was going on. The whole thing lasted seven seconds and then I was out of there.”
9. Chris Pronger’s smiling check on Justin Bieber
Remember the celebrity game during All-Star Weekend in January? No? I’ll bet you remember this photo, thought. That’s all you need to remember, really.
8. Brian Boyle scores first goal after cancer diagnosis
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZ6a2XHwGmA%5D
Leukemia wasn’t going to stop Boyle from playing the game he loves. After missing the first month of the season for treatment, he returned in early November to the New Jersey Devils’ lineup. In his fifth game back, he scored on Cam Talbot, which unleashed plenty of emotion from the veteran forward.
“I’ve never cried after a goal before,” Boyle told MSG’s Deb Placey during the first intermission. “It’s a lot. It’s everything… These guys, my wife, my kids, they’ve been through a lot, too. My parents, my siblings, it’s a good feeling.”
7. Craig Anderson’s emotional Bill Masterton Trophy speech
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUBxfQ89GQM%5D
Anderson had to take several absences away from his Ottawa Senators teammates as his wife, Nicholle, fought a rare throat cancer. She would go into remission in May and a month later the netminder was awarded the 2017 Masterton Trophy and delivered this memorable line: “Live for the now.”
6. Alex Ovechkin delivers hat trick for fan on Hockey Fights Cancer Night
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGHYv2ocvkw%5D
When Ovechkin promised Alex Luey that he would score for him against the Toronto Maple Leafs last month, he told the 13-year-old he would try and find him in the crowd. The Washington Capitals captain tallied a hat trick that night to help make the young cancer survivor’s night.
5. Dave Strader returns to Dallas Stars broadcast booth
As he battled bile duct cancer, the play-by-play man returned in February to call a Stars game against the Tampa Bay Lightning. It ended in dramatic fashion as captain Jamie Benn fired home the overtime goal. After the celebrations ended, the players all gathered at center ice to salute Strader.
The long-time hockey broadcaster would pass away in October and was further remembered when the team held their Hockey Fights Cancer night in early November. Days before he was honored as the 2017 Foster Hewitt Award, Strader’s son, Trevor, performed the national anthem before the Stars game that night.
4. Bryan Bickell scores first career shootout goal in final NHL game
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8v4_ZMfqsXM%5D
Through 395 NHL games, Bickell had only taken one attempt in the shootout. Knowing it was his final game, the Carolina Hurricanes forward scored, five months after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. You can see how much the moment meant not only to Bickell and his wife, but also to his teammates.
3. Jamie Benn promises goal for car crash survivor, delivers
The first time Kendra Murray met Benn she was in a hospital room recovering from a car crash that took the lives of two of her friends. The next time she saw him was at a morning skate in October, eight months after the accident. After chatting with general manager Jim Nill, she got to see Tyler Seguin, who visited her that day with Benn, again, and then she met up with the Stars captain who told her, “I’ll score for you. I’ll make sure it’s for you.”
Sure enough, he did early in the second period of that night’s game against the Colorado Avalanche.
“I was like ‘Oh my God, he did it,’” Murray told Pro Hockey Talk in October. “That’s actually for me and I knew that it was for me. It was so crazy. It was the first goal, too. It made the Stars be ahead in the game which was awesome.”
2. Viktor Arvidsson assists Predators fan in marriage proposal
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLhEa4snjXU%5D
“Don’t drop it,” were the words of advice from Matt Irwin. The Nashville Predators forward was tasked with delivering an engagement ring on his way to the Bridgestone Arena ice for warmups. When he took off his glove and handed the ring to Morgan Landsberg, her face filled with shock and confusion. She turned around and then saw her now-fiancee Conor Payne get down on one knee and pop the question. She said yes and now has one of the better engagement stories out there.
1. Golden Knights honor Vegas shooting victims and first responders
After the tragic mass shooting on Oct. 1 just blocks from T-Mobile Arena, the Vegas Golden Knights held a ceremony prior to their first home game to pay tribute to the victims and first responders. The team introduced doctors, firemen, nurses, paramedics and police officers, who were each accompanied by a Golden Knights player. There was also a 58-second moment of silence remembering the 58 victims with their names superimposed on the ice. The advertisements on the boards were replaced with the #VegasStrong hashtag.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Io4O56G95cY%5D
To end the ceremony, Deryk Engelland, a Vegas native, spoke to the crowd reminding them they are all “Vegas strong.” He would later score in the franchise’s first ever win.
Previously:
• The top hockey bloopers of 2017
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Sean Leahy is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @Sean_Leahy.
