Oilers feature U of A goalie during final moments of Saturday's Blackhawks win
Oilers feature U of A goalie during final moments of Saturday's Blackhawks win
A University of Alberta Golden Bears hockey goalie was doing homework Saturday night when he got the call that he would dress as the Oilers' backup.
Twenty-five-year-old Matt Berlin, born in Edmonton, was supposed to watch the Edmonton Oilers and Chicago Blackhawks game from the press box.
As the emergency goalie for the Oilers, the plan was changed around 4:30 p.m. after Stuart Skinner was ruled out because of illness, and it was too late for the team to prep another regular goaltender.
"I just couldn't believe it," Berlin told CTV News Edmonton. "I called my mom, my girlfriend, saying you guys won't believe what's going on."
He rushed over to Rogers Place and got to meet the team, with Captain Connor McDavid being the first player to welcome him onboard.
"He was talking to me a lot through the night," Berlin added. "Same with Leon [Draisaitl]. They are both super, super nice."
"It was incredible to be around them and seeing them play at ice level is different than seeing them play in the stands."
Berlin then got the tap on his should around the seven to 10-minute mark of the third period to get ready to play.
Matt Berlin, from the University of Alberta (@GBHKY), dressed for the @EdmontonOilers tonight. He saw 2:26 on ice, making one save on one shot for a 1.000 SVP% and a memory that will last a lifetime. pic.twitter.com/go9fvADKPh
— UAlberta Golden Bears & Pandas (@BearsandPandas) January 29, 2023
Berlin is now the eighth Golden Bear to play in an NHL game with the Oilers.
Rogers Place erupted in cheers after he made his first NHL save on a shot by Blackhawk Caleb Jones. Berlin called it a "pretty routine point shot."
"I was pretty excited about it," he added. "It all worked out great."
'A TESTAMENT TO OUR PROGRAM'
Ian Herbers, Golden Bears hockey head coach, was proud Berlin was able to contribute to the Oilers game and show off the quality behind the university's hockey program.
He was also grateful to the Oilers for giving the young hockey player the chance to live out his dreams.
"Usually, those guys are sitting up in the bleachers up in the press box watching the game," Herbers added.
"So for him to have that chance… to just be in that atmosphere," he said, "and then go on the ice for warmup and take shots from those guys in two-on-one situations, that's something you are telling your grandchildren."
Golden Bears captain Matt Fonteyne said the whole team was incredibly excited to see Berlin play.
"It's just a testament to our program," Fonteyne said. "A quality guy like him getting the opportunity to shine, and that's exactly what he did."
Matt Berlin was all smiles at the Golden Bears hockey morning practice on Monday, Jan. 30, 2022 (CTV News Edmonton/Nahreman Issa).
The team was on a high at practice Monday morning, the captain added, still celebrating Berlin's achievement.
"Whenever you see somebody on your team do something individually, that's positive for him," he said.
"We can band behind that and kind of take off his positive motivation and positive energy off the ice and bring it into our practices and onto the ice."
The parents of young Ontario hockey player Ben Teague have been searching for answers since he died while at a team retreat in 2019. The mystery about what happened and the code of silence in hockey culture is explored in CTV W5's 'What Happened to Ben,' on CTVNews.ca and W5's official YouTube channel.
In an effort to keep the foreign interference story at the forefront, and to do an apparent endrun around the Liberal filibuster blocking one study from going ahead, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is forcing MPs to debate and then vote on a motion instructing an opposition-dominated House committee to strike its own review.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump's calls for protests ahead of his anticipated indictment in New York have generated mostly muted reactions from supporters, with even some of his most ardent loyalists dismissing the idea as a waste of time or a law enforcement trap.
Officials are still looking for victims after a fire ripped through a building in Old Montreal last week, killing at least one person. At a press conference Monday morning, spokespersons for the Montreal police and Montreal fire department said six people are still missing. They come from various locations in Quebec, Ontario and the U.S.
Bargain hunters are one step closer to seeing sales at Nordstrom's closing Canadian locations. At a hearing at Osgoode Hall in Toronto on Monday, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice gave the U.S. retailer's Canadian branch permission to start liquidating its merchandise.
Some of the world's largest central banks came together on Sunday to stop a banking crisis from spreading as Swiss authorities persuaded UBS Group AG to buy rival Credit Suisse Group AG in a historic deal.
Quebec provincial police (SQ) announced Monday morning that a third person has died in connection with the tragedy in Amqui, in the Lower St. Lawrence region, where a driver drove his pickup truck into pedestrians a week ago.
The Town of Strathmore and Siksika Nation hosted the first Lead By Example Powwow this weekend in honour of a young Indigenous man who was shot to death four years ago.
Autopsies confirmed gunshot wounds as the cause of death for two constables responding to a domestic dispute Thursday, the Edmonton Police Service says.
Some residents of Saskatchewan's capital city have been vocal with their disapproval of Tourism Regina's latest rebrand, prompting an apology from the organization.
The University of Prince Edward Island Faculty Association says its staff has gone on strike after what it says are failed attempts to enter additional negotiations with the university's administration.
The student union president at Cape Breton University said food insecurity has become a concern for many students and the on-campus food bank cannot keep up with demand.
Ontario employers who withhold foreign workers’ passports or work permits could face steeper penalties under new labour laws, with maximum fines setting them back up to $200,000.
Officials are still looking for victims after a fire ripped through a building in Old Montreal last week, killing at least one person. At a press conference Monday morning, spokespersons for the Montreal police and Montreal fire department said six people are still missing. They come from various locations in Quebec, Ontario and the U.S.
Quebec provincial police (SQ) announced Monday morning that a third person has died in connection with the tragedy in Amqui, in the Lower St. Lawrence region, where a driver drove his pickup truck into pedestrians a week ago.
Bargain hunters are one step closer to seeing sales at Nordstrom's closing Canadian locations. At a hearing at Osgoode Hall in Toronto on Monday, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice gave the U.S. retailer's Canadian branch permission to start liquidating its merchandise.
Ontario employers who withhold foreign workers’ passports or work permits could face steeper penalties under new labour laws, with maximum fines setting them back up to $200,000.
The Rideau McDonald's Farewell March brought people from across the city, some dressed in costumes, who wanted to say goodbye to a part of what they say makes Ottawa Ottawa.
A community is in mourning after a 10-year-old girl was killed earlier this week when flames tore through her family’s camping trailer southeast of Brantford.
Waterloo regional police say they arrested nine people for impaired driving over the course of nine hours between 6:30 p.m. on St. Patrick’s Day and 3:30 a.m. on March 18.
A 46-year-old has been taken to hospital with serious, life-threatening injuries after a single-vehicle crash on MR80 near Donaldson Crescent in Val Caron.
An Ontario woman has launched a lawsuit seeking $500,000 from Tim Hortons after she suffered major burns from an alleged ‘superheated’ tea. The company has denied all allegations and said she was ‘the author of her own misfortune.'
Vancouver firefighters were called to the Downtown Eastside Sunday evening after a fire destroyed multiple tents in an encampment and spread to a building near Main and East Hastings streets.
An Ontario woman has launched a lawsuit seeking $500,000 from Tim Hortons after she suffered major burns from an alleged ‘superheated’ tea. The company has denied all allegations and said she was ‘the author of her own misfortune.'
An international student was swarmed and beaten by a group of people who ripped off his turban and dragged him across the sidewalk by his hair in Kelowna, B.C., Friday evening, according to a local politician.
Mounties in Port McNeill violated a suspect's Charter rights by failing to allow him to contact a lawyer promptly after his 2019 drug trafficking arrest, a judge has ruled.
Matt Berlin was all smiles at the Golden Bears hockey morning practice on Monday, Jan. 30, 2022 (CTV News Edmonton/Nahreman Issa).
