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Special To Hockeybuzz. On this day in 1987 the Goalie Goal Was Born. |
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My good friend Bruce Scoop Cooper wrote this today on Facebook and I asked him if I could share it here! Scooper has been around for longer than anyone in the Flyers world and I remember this game very well as I was a fan there. The funniest thing about this game for me was I didn’t get there until the end of the first period. I was teaching piano lessons at the time and my mom and I almost didn’t go… if we hadn’t gone, we wouldn’t have seen this amazing moment in NHL history. Enjoy Scoop’s article.
DECEMBER 8, 1987 — RON HEXTALL SCORES A GOAL AGAINST THE BOSTON BRUINS
Thirty-seven years ago tonight with the Flyers leading the Boston Bruins, 4-2, and B’s target, former Philadelphia Firebird Reggie Lemelin, pulled for an extra attacker, Flyer goalie Ron Hextall thrilled the sell-out Spectrum crowd when he lofted the puck from his crease the length of the ice to become the first ever NHL goalie to score a goal by having shot the puck in the net himself.
Amazingly, however, he was not only NOT the first goalie to have scored such a goal in professional hockey — and he wasn’t even the first to do it that week!! Ironically just a few days earlier that week, minor league goalie Darcy Wakaluk of the AHL Rochester Americans had done the same thing by also scoring a goal by shooting the puck into an empty net in Utica, NY, against the Utica Devils.
When I saw Hexie in the Flyers' locker room after the game after the rest of the press had moved on I said to him with a grin and a wink: "Way to go Hexie. You know you are the second guy to have done that this week!" I can’t really repeat his response to me here, but at least he didn’t slash me. 😉
Boston Bruins 2 @ Philadelphia Flyers 5
December 8, 1987
First Period
1 - PHI : Propp 8 (Tocchet, Eklund) (PP) 6:58
Penalties - BOS - Jay Miller (Fighting (maj)) 5:05 ; PHI - Craig Berube (Fighting (maj)) 5:05 ; BOS - Ray Bourque (Holding) 5:14 ; BOS - Jay Miller (Fighting (maj)) 12:06 ; PHI - David Brown (Fighting (maj)) 12:06 ; PHI - William Root (Hooking) 14:49 ; BOS - Lyndon Byers (Fighting (maj)) 19:05 ; BOS - Willi Plett (Fighting (maj)) 19:05 ; PHI - Craig Berube (Fighting (maj)) 19:05 ; PHI - David Brown (Instigator) 19:05 ; PHI - David Brown (Fighting (maj)) 19:05 ;
Second Period
2 - BOS : Kluzak 2 (Sweeney) (EV) 6:09
3 - BOS : Crowder 10 (Linseman, Wesley) (EV) 7:51
Penalties - BOS - Reed Larson (Holding) 12:38 ; PHI - Rick Tocchet (Tripping) 18:08 ;
Third Period
4 - PHI : Zezel 9 (Mellanby, Craven) (PP) 5:38
5 - PHI : Zezel 10 (Craven, Howe) (PP) 14:40
6 - PHI : Propp 9 (EV) 17:33
7 - PHI : Hextall 1 (EV-EN) 18:48
Penalties - BOS - Reed Larson (Slashing) 3:48 ; PHI - Rick Tocchet (Tripping) 9:10 ; BOS - Ray Bourque (Hooking) 12:55 ;
Shots On Goal
Boston Bruins 12 9 2 23
Philadelphia Flyers 11 11 16 38
Powerplay Conversions
Boston Bruins : 0 of 5
Philadelphia Flyers : 3 of 4
Goaltenders
Ron Hextall (PHI) (W) 21 saves on 23 shots - 60:00 mins
Rejean Lemelin (BOS) (L) 33 saves on 37 shots - 58:41 mins
3 Stars of the Game
1 - Peter Zezel (PHI)
2 - Scott Mellanby (PHI)
3 - Ron Hextall (PHI)
Officials
Referee: Andy Van Hellemond
Linesman: Ron Finn
Linesman: Mark Vines
Game Rosters
Boston Bruins
Name +/- shots
Ray Bourque 0 7
Randy Burridge -1 1
Lyndon Byers -1 2
John Carter 1 0
Keith Crowder 0 5
Steve Kasper -1 1
Gordon Kluzak -1 2
Reed Larson 0 0
Ken Linseman 1 1
Rick Middleton 0 1
Jay Miller 0 0
Cam Neely 0 1
William O'dwyer 0 1
Allen Pedersen 0 0
Willi Plett 0 0
Robert Sweeney 0 1
Michael Thelven 0 0
Glen Wesley 1 0
Philadelphia Flyers
Name +/- shots
Craig Berube 0 0
Dave Brown 1 0
Murray Craven 0 2
Doug Crossman 0 6
Brian Dobbin 0 0
Pelle Eklund 1 2
Mark Howe 0 1
Kerry Huffman 0 4
Brad Marsh 0 0
Scott Mellanby -1 4
Dave Poulin -1 1
Brian Propp 0 7
Bill Root -1 1
Kjell Samuelsson 1 2
Derrick Smith -1 2
Ron Sutter 0 1
Rick Tocchet 0 1
Peter Zezel 1 3
Attendance - 17,345
Full game video in two parts:
https://youtu.be/Wp0ydN0elho
https://youtu.be/e2UyVQ5xqGI
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