The 2020-21 NHL season is like no other NHL season we’ve ever seen. The divisions have been totally shaken up, there are all kinds of health and safety protocols, and – perhaps most noticeably – there are no fans in attendance for most of the games.
Having no fans is quite literally a weird look. The emptiness on the other side of the glass in combated by the SOUND of fans, which is pumped into the arena, but overall it’s hard to really sell the concept.
One indicator is when a player scores a hat-trick and no hats hit the ice. That’s usually a fan’s job. On Monday, however, Canucks goaltender Braden Holtby took on the responsibility. After Brandon Sutter scored his first career hat-trick, Holts tossed his hat onto the ice, where it sat all alone as Sutter and the ‘Nucks celebrated.
Holtby was backing up Thatcher Demko on Monday, which is why he had a hat on. Other than Gritty tossing a massive Philadelphia Flyers hat on the ice for a hat trick, we’re pretty sure this is really the only way a 3-goal game could be celebrated in traditional fashion.
We wouldn’t be surprised if we began seeing the backup goalies celebrating hatties like this moving forward.
(H/T Canucks)
