Attempted goalie pull in Blues' 7-3 loss to Blackhawks all boils down to one goalie not being ready
What amounted to appear as just another goal for the Chicago Blackhawks in a rather forgetful 7-3 loss by the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday night turned into actual theatre.
Some may or may have thought it was a hilarious moment, some may not. But when Louis Crevier scored with 7:04 remaining in the third period that made it a 7-2 game, that's when the shenanigans happened.
Blues coach Jim Montgomery had seen enough, not by goalie Jordan Binnington, but by the mundane play of the players in front of his goalie again, Montgomery had summoned for goalie Joel Hofer to go and finish the rest of the game.
But here was the problem: Hofer was simply not ready to go in.
So I've been and have paid attention to enough of the road buildings to know that the backup goalie for a particular building does not have the luxury to sit on the visiting bench. United Center is one of those buildings.
Buildings (and I may not be naming them all) that come to mind are San Jose, Montreal, Winnipeg, Dallas, where the visiting goalie either sits in the corner entrance to the ice and/or on the opposite side of the benches due to the lack of space for the backup goalie.
In Chicago, there is no such spot for the backup goalie to sit, so in that building, they're in the back in the locker room watching with the trainers or whomever with the team staff.
All I can say in this instance is that at the time of game, Hofer had to feel like there was no reason to keep his gear on any longer, so he had probably taken it off, but when Montgomery made the call, he likely had no idea that to be the case, and when he was calling for Binnington to come out, he was not budging until he saw Hofer come over the boards or through the bench door, which is customary. Of course it made for all sorts of conspiracy theorists claiming Binnington refused to come out of the game, which is ridiculous, and those with their strong -- and as usual, wrong -- opinions, look foolish in the end.
Montgomery seemed confused at the time as to why no goalie was coming. Well, the Blues only get so much time to make the change or risk getting a delay of game minor. So once Hofer got word he was being called to come in, he is likely scurrying to get whatever gear he needed to get on and be ready to go.
The memes with this one are already going bonkers, with Hofer behind the bench area, peeking to his right and wondering if he's still needed (great job by Henrik Lundqvist making light of the situation and explaining it):
Binnington would finish out the game and it's a great reminder to find out what actually happened first and a great example to all goalies that no matter how much or how little time is left in a game, always be prepared:
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