Home / News / Ryan Zimmerman became a goalie for a day to fulfill a bet with Nicklas Backstrom three years ago (Video)

Ryan Zimmerman became a goalie for a day to fulfill a bet with Nicklas Backstrom three years ago (Video)

By Ian Oland

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January 16, 2020 4:04 pm

World Series champion Ryan Zimmerman traded in his bat for a blocker pad and took shots from the Washington Capitals after practice Wednesday.

We didn’t understand why Zimmerman randomly showed up to MedStar Capitals Iceplex and played goalie until now. It was to fulfill a bet with Nicklas Backstrom.

Video

“He said to me three years ago, ‘How hard could it be?’” Backstrom said of Zimmerman’s disrespectful attitude toward goaltending. “And I’m like, ‘Come out here. Come out here. You can be the goalie.’”

“I couldn’t back down,” Zimmerman said.

“At first, he wanted to do it with no skates and I’m like ‘no, no, no, no.’ Let’s not get carried away here,” Backstrom said, adding that Zimmerman thought playing goalie would be a piece of cake.

“Mr. National” seemed to regret his words as soon as he dressed in his goalie gear and made his way out on the ice.

“I’m scared to death but I’m here,” Zimmerman said as he met the team at center ice.

“I was worried when he was struggling to even get to the net skating, but half the battle is standing in there,” Tom Wilson said.

“I don’t know what his skating background is or anything, but at least he was pretty balanced out there and didn’t fall over or anything,” Capitals starting goaltender Braden Holtby said.

The Capitals took long shots from the point and tried to score on Zimmerman on breakaways. Then the ante got upped. Alex Ovechkin made his way to his office to practice one-timers.

“Dude I’m so scared right now,” Zimmerman said.

Zimmerman made several glove saves on Ovechkin’s half-powered shots. Then Ovechkin tried his hardest and blasted the puck past him with ease.

“I don’t think he’ll make the team, but he had fun,” Alex Ovechkin said.

While refreshing himself with some Gatorade, Zimmerman joked with Wilson that “I wasn’t a half a bottle of bourbon deep like the last time we were on the ice, that wasn’t good.”

“His overall save percentage wasn’t the best,” John Carlson said. “He flashed the leather a few times. It was cool to see.”

“I survived. Unbelievable,” Zimmerman said after practice. “Not that I needed a new-found respect for goalies, but that’s definitely the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I’m going to be so sore tomorrow.”

Zimmerman, an unrestricted free agent, will now turn his attention to making a decision on if he’ll return next season and play with the Washington Nationals or retire. Earlier this week, Backstrom signed a five-year extension worth $9.2 million and served as his own agent.

“Maybe I’ll talk to him,” Zimmerman said.

“He can hire me if he wants to,” Backstrom said. “I’ll take 0 percent.”

Headline photo: NBC4 Sports

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