During a December 5 matchup between the St. Louis Blues and Edmonton Oilers, the highlight of the game wasn’t a goal. It was Colton Parayko’s response to a referee that was caught by a hot mic.
Video
Parayko put the ref in his place tonight. 🤣 pic.twitter.com/Atv4LleYLM
— hockeyfights (@hockeyfights) December 6, 2018
The twenty-five-year-old defenseman was waiting with the puck behind his own goal during three-on-three overtime. Parayko didn’t seem inclined to move and no Oilers were pressuring, but the referee wanted to move things along and yelled at Parayko to “Move it!”
“I can do whatever I want!” Parayko replied.
“Really?!” responded the ref.
Neither Parayko nor the official were mic’d up, but their, uh, discussion was loud enough for a hot mic to pick up the audio.
Referee: "Move it!"
Parayko: "I can do whatever I want…. "
Referee: "Really!?"— Robert Söderlind (@HockeyWebCast) December 8, 2018
The Blues are notoriously bad at line changes and continually get penalized for too many men, so Parayko’s delay may have been strategic to give his teammates extra time to get in place. It didn’t work out quite the way the Blues hoped though, with both teams scoreless after OT and the Blues losing in the shootout.
It’s worth noting Parayko is more known for being a sweet, polite Canadian boy than for backtalking referees. He even folds his towels on the bench before returning them to the trainers.
