Hockey is a chaotic sport. Six-foot meaty hockey players, wearing pounds of equipment, skate on a slippery ice sheet while trying to shoot a two-pound disc of vulcanized rubber into the net. Meanwhile, two referees and two linesmen officiate play, skating up and down the ice.
While all of this chaos is happening, there’s bound to be some happy accidents, especially if someone makes a move another person on the ice does not anticipate.
This is the only way to explain why referee Kiel Murchison essentially bodychecked Ryan O’Reilly to the ice in the second period of the Capitals-Blues game.
While the Blues were on a power-play, the two teams had a faceoff in the Capitals defensive zone. O’Reilly and Caps forward Chandler Stephenson tied each other up during the faceoff. The rest of the players charged into the right circle to try and dig the puck out.
As this happens, Murchison, the referee, finds himself trapped amongst the battling players, so as he tries to free himself, he loses his balance and shoves O’Reilly to the ice.
Incredibly, O’Reilly sweeps the puck back to the point as he falls to onto his tuchus.
The Blues proceeded to score the game-tying goal 24 seconds later (!!).
O’Reilly would earn the primary assist, after dishing to Colton Parayko. Parayko sent a clapper past Braden Holtby. The power-play goal tied the score at two.
The Blues would score four answered goals in total, eventually winning 5-2.
Friday, video of the play went viral in hockey circles on Twitter.
ummm what just happened…? pic.twitter.com/0hxSv1BzpV
— Josh Hyman (@joshhymanRTN) January 4, 2019
Hey, ref! You can’t do that!
Full RMNB Coverage of Caps at Blues
Cara Bahniuk also contributed to this article.
