<story><title>EBUG: The NHL&apos;s emergency backup goalie rule</title><url>https://whyisthisinteresting.substack.com/p/the-ebug-edition</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>teruakohatu</author><text>&amp;gt; Whether home or away, both teams in any given game can pull from the same roster&lt;p&gt;I am in New Zealand and know nothing about ice hockey, but wouldn&amp;#x27;t it be risky to accept your opponents recommendation? Wouldn&amp;#x27;t a fan of their own team be a better bet, even if a worse player?</text></item><item><author>hirvi74</author><text>I am a diehard NHL fan and a &amp;quot;beer league&amp;quot; goalie, and it would be my dream to be called up.&lt;p&gt;However, I am acquainted with some individuals that are members of my favorite team&amp;#x27;s organization. My favorite team apparently has a roster of about 20 people that are &amp;quot;on call&amp;quot; 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.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>kgermino</author><text>I think there’s a few reasons they don’t worry about it:&lt;p&gt;1. This very rarely comes up at all.&lt;p&gt;2. These guys aren’t usually that good (by NHL standards) and you’ve probably lost the game anyway. You’re relying on your defense to keep the puck away from them more than you’re relying on them to excel.&lt;p&gt;3. (Probably most important to your point). This is one of the best days in this guy’s life. He’s In an NHL game and will be in the highlight reels. Playing well and stopping his team’s power forward from scoring is a massive high that does way more than his preferred team winning or losing.</text></comment>
<story><title>EBUG: The NHL&apos;s emergency backup goalie rule</title><url>https://whyisthisinteresting.substack.com/p/the-ebug-edition</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>teruakohatu</author><text>&amp;gt; Whether home or away, both teams in any given game can pull from the same roster&lt;p&gt;I am in New Zealand and know nothing about ice hockey, but wouldn&amp;#x27;t it be risky to accept your opponents recommendation? Wouldn&amp;#x27;t a fan of their own team be a better bet, even if a worse player?</text></item><item><author>hirvi74</author><text>I am a diehard NHL fan and a &amp;quot;beer league&amp;quot; goalie, and it would be my dream to be called up.&lt;p&gt;However, I am acquainted with some individuals that are members of my favorite team&amp;#x27;s organization. My favorite team apparently has a roster of about 20 people that are &amp;quot;on call&amp;quot; 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.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>Delk</author><text>That&amp;#x27;s not really a choice for the visiting team to make. A team can only have two goalies dressed for a game. The emergency backup goalie rule (which is unique to the NHL, AFAIK) is that the home team has to have an emergency goalie booked who&amp;#x27;s available as a stand-in for either team should both of the team&amp;#x27;s dressed goalies get injured during the game. Either team would only realistically take that option if they have no other choice.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s a relatively rare occurrence, and I imagine that anybody who ends up playing as an emergency backup would make an honest effort out of sportsmanship, and also because it&amp;#x27;s an unique opportunity and experience, even if it&amp;#x27;s for the visiting team.&lt;p&gt;The emergency backup goalie is essentially the ultimate underdog and ends up being the fan favourite for the game. Sometimes the home crowd has started to cheer for him even though he was playing for the visiting team.&lt;p&gt;I don&amp;#x27;t know what would be going through the emergency goalie&amp;#x27;s head if they had to step in for a really high-stakes game, though. I don&amp;#x27;t think that has happened so far.</text></comment>