from Hacker News

EBUG: The NHL's emergency backup goalie rule

by noahbrier on 5/4/22, 10:37 AM with 90 comments

  • by pvg on 5/4/22, 11:24 PM

    Previous EBUG thread:

    https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16716279 NHL stunner: A 36-year-old accountant who has never played pro stars in Blackhawks win 2018, 85 comments

  • by enos_feedler on 5/4/22, 11:30 PM

    The post-game interview with Scott Foster (one of the stand-ins referenced in the article) is pretty funny:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RB60iaSUIu0

    Best Quote: "I'm an accountant by day. So a few hours ago I was sitting at a computer typing on a 10 key. Now I'm standing before you guys after playing 14 minutes of NHL hockey".

    I'll never forget the shock of sitting down to catch sports highlights only to see this interview on TV. I went to high school with Scott Foster so it was a crazy shock.

  • by hirvi74 on 5/4/22, 11:10 PM

    I am a diehard NHL fan and a "beer league" goalie, and it would be my dream to be called up.

    However, I am acquainted with some individuals that are members of my favorite team's organization. My favorite team apparently has a roster of about 20 people that are "on call" for and given home game. Whether home or away, both teams in any given game can pull from the same roster i.e. the home team keeps the roster for both teams EBUG do not travel with the team or anything. Most of these people are ex-NCAA players or semi-professional players that have had far more success than your average beer leaguer.

  • by BrandonWatson on 5/5/22, 3:08 AM

    I'm going to do all of you a favor - this is one of the greatest stories ever. EBUG from just 2 years ago.

    Here's the incident as it happened: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0JTRm-wf2E&ab_channel=Slick...

    The EBUG was the zamboni driver for the home team junior team. And also a practice goalie. He comes out in helmet, pads and breezers (pants) of the home team, and even skates to the wrong goal because...wrong team. And plays half the game.

    Then Steve Dangle melts down. He's on Sportsnet in Canada. He's a die hard Leafs (home team) fan. He's even written a book about how the Leafs have ruined his life. His video is epic.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFnQ0dcaBUI&ab_channel=Steve...

    I don't have time to look for it but David Ayers's wife (the EBUG) was on twitter and live tweeting the experience. It was nuts.

    Here's a 1 year later retrospective on Sportsnet:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsjBr6rKEuU&ab_channel=SPORT...

  • by gzer0 on 5/4/22, 11:42 PM

    If both uniformed goalies are removed, the EBUG, or Emergency Backup Goalie, takes over. An EBUG is a player provided by the host arena but available to either team.

    They're on a one-day contract, don't normally dress (get into gear), and usually just sit back and watch the game while eating a hot dog. It's typically a local rec league goalie/coach/staff member.

  • by 0110101001 on 5/5/22, 12:54 AM

    Also interesting is the rule that allows (requires?) players to serve as referees.

    > If, through misadventure or sickness, the Referees and Linesmen appointed are prevented from appearing, the League will make every attempt to find suitable replacement officials, otherwise, the Managers or Coaches of the two Clubs shall agree on Referee(s) and Linesman(men). If they are unable to agree, they shall appoint a player from each side who shall act as Referee and Linesman; the player of the home Club acting as Referee and the player of the visiting Club as Linesman.

  • by mindcrime on 5/4/22, 3:13 PM

    It is one of the most interesting rules in sports, and does make for some incredible stories on the (rare) occasion when it is invoked. I first heard of this when Scott Foster played for the Blackhawks and thought it was one of the coolest things I'd ever heard of in my life at the time. And I still think this is one of the coolest things ever. Talk about memories that will last a lifetime. Wow.

  • by slyall on 5/5/22, 12:34 AM

    In 1998 during a Cricket test match between India and New Zealand several New Zealand players got ill. NZ ended up playing two people from the media commentary team as substitutes.

    One was a recently-retired NZ player but the other was playing in his only International game.

  • by rawling on 5/5/22, 12:12 AM

    > In 2018, the accountant Scott Foster stopped all seven shots he faced to preserve a win for the Chicago Blackhawks. In 2020, the Zamboni driver David Ayres famously recorded the first-ever win for an EBUG as he denied his hometown Maple Leafs for half a game.

    If Foster won as EBUG in 2018, how can Ayres have had the first-ever EBUG win in 2020?

  • by paulcole on 5/5/22, 12:58 AM

    Of the major professional sports in the US, hockey goalie feels like the only position where this could happen. You could do it for kicker/punter in the NFL, but even then there’s a player on the roster who’s serviceable and then you can alter game strategy to minimize the need for kicking/punting.

  • by haunter on 5/4/22, 11:34 AM

  • by jeffrallen on 5/5/22, 5:04 AM

    I kept waiting for the turn to "how this concept should be used in OT incident management" or somesuch and was instead "disappointed" to receive a joyful missive on unexpected dreams. Fun!

  • by eschneider on 5/4/22, 11:47 PM

    Polo also allows drafting players from the stands (If someone goes out injured, you've got 15 minutes to find another player.) and I've seen it happen.

  • by coffeeisyummy on 5/5/22, 11:32 AM

    My favorite EBUG story - the GM of the Rangers forced to play goalie in the Stanley Cup final: https://nypost.com/video/rangers-gm-lester-patrick-plays-goa...

  • by ericcholis on 5/5/22, 3:13 AM

    Such an amazing story when it happens. It always seems that every player on both teams offers up huge congratulations to the EBUG afterwards. The team that the EBUG plays for puts that player on a pedestal and treats them like a king; win or loose. The fans really get behind it too. Ryan Vinz filled the backup position for the Sabres, while the backup played. He didn't see any play time, but still had a special memory for it.

  • by _whiteCaps_ on 5/4/22, 11:13 PM

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Levesque almost made the list, but the Canucks backup goalie kept playing even though he had broken his wrist!

  • by jollybean on 5/5/22, 11:04 AM

    This is the best rule in all of sports we want to see this more often.

  • by boomboomsubban on 5/5/22, 12:11 AM

    Do they do the same thing for preseason games and it's just not in the rules? Or is there a third dressed goalie generally dressed?