He shoots, he scores! AJHL goalie scores rare goalie goal
History was made, sort of, in the Alberta Junior Hockey League Tuesday night when Spruce Grove Saints goaltender Tristan Martin scored an empty-net goal.
With the Saints leading 5-3, their opponent, the Grande Prairie Storm, pulled their goaltender for an extra attacker.
With 50 seconds left in the third period, the puck was sent behind the Saints' net where Martin stopped it, then turned and lofted it down the ice into the empty net.
Martin's Spruce Grove teammates rushed over to congratulate him on the rare feat and what was his first goal.
“It was my first-ever crack at it in a game … so it was pretty cool,” Martin told CTV News on Wednesday.
Martin said he didn’t hesitate to try to score when he grabbed the puck behind the net.
“I was going for it. Then I got scared when the d-man jumped high at the blueline there and it just missed his glove but then it started curving back in towards the net. Then I was like, 'Oh no, it’s going in.'”
The AJHL told CTV News it believes it's the first time a goalie has shot the puck down the length of the ice to score a goal in the league's 58-year history.
However, AJHL Vice President Charla Flett added that Martin is not the first goalie to be credited with a goal.
Sherwood Park Crusaders goalie Jake Morrissey in February 2017 when he was the last player on his team to touch the puck when he made a save, before a Camrose Kodiaks defender accidentally passed it into his own empty net.
Fort McMurray Oil Barons netminder Jimmy Bernier was credited with two goals during the 2005/06 season, but the team chalks that up to a clerical error.
And, Olds Grizzlys goalie Glen Furgason was also credited with a goal way back in 1985/86.
Martin, 19, hales from St. Vincent, Alta. He has only been with the Spruce Grove Saints since a Dec. 2 trade with the Grizzlys.
After the 6-3 victory, the Saints sit in first place in the AJHL North Division with a 34-7-4 record. They continue a road trip in Whitecourt Wednesday night against the Wolverines.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Maple Leafs fall to Bruins in Game 3, trail series 2-1
Brad Marchand scored twice, including the winner in the third period, and added an assist as the Boston Bruins downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series Wednesday
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
New Indigenous loan guarantee program a 'really big deal,' Freeland says at Toronto conference
Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was among the 1,700 delegates attending the two-day First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference that concluded Tuesday in Toronto.
'Life was not fair to him': Daughter of N.B. man exonerated of murder remembers him as a kind soul
The daughter of a New Brunswick man recently exonerated from murder, is remembering her father as somebody who, despite a wrongful conviction, never became bitter or angry.