Ok this is the only hockey thread I could find right now, but it works just as good as any.
I thought this was a really awesome story...
'Forget the exam, Canucks need you'
UBC backup goalie suits up for Canucks after last-minute injury sparks frantic search
Jack Keating
The Province; with Canadian Press
Wednesday, December 10, 2003
UBC backup goalie Chris Levesque gathers his gear as he prepares to rush down to GM Place for last night's game between the Canucks and Pittsburgh Penguins.
CREDIT: Jason Payne, The Province
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Chris Levesque will probably be tired when he arrives in class for his 8 a.m. geography exam today.
At least he'll have a good excuse -- and a great story to tell.
Levesque, backup goaltender for the University of B.C. Thunderbirds, signed a one-day amateur contract with the Vancouver Canucks yesterday and dressed as the backup to Johan Hedberg against the Pittsburgh Penguins last night.
Starter Dan Cloutier hurt his groin during the morning skate and when the Canucks were unable to recall a goalie from their AHL affiliate in Winnipeg in time for the game, they turned to Levesque.
But first they had to find Levesque, who was nowhere to be found.
"He won't be able to suit up for the Canucks unless we find him soon," said Marc Weber of UBC's athletics department less than four hours before last night's game. "We're scouring the campus and we haven't found him yet."
At about 3:30 p.m., a Province reporter and photographer rushed to UBC to join the search for Levesque, 23, who is in his third year at UBC and winless this season with the T-Birds.
"We've looked everywhere and we can't find him," reported Weber as we arrived on the campus. "If we don't find him soon it will be too late."
The Province caught up to Levesque in the Thunderbirds' dressing room.
He'd only found out that he was to be a hockey Cinderella 20 minutes earlier -- only three hours before game time -- when teammate Casey Bartzen found him studying for his geography final exam he was supposed to take this morning.
"I thought he was pulling my leg when he told me," said Levesque, who is from Port Coquitlam and graduated from Riverside Secondary.
After playing his minor hockey in PoCo, Levesque played three years of Junior A hockey in Manitoba.
"I'm unbelievably excited," he said, hurriedly packing his gear into a duffel bag.
"You don't get an opportunity like this every day."
Levesque said there was always a chance Hedberg could get hurt or kicked out of the game, throwing him into the fray. And for several spellbinding moments in the first period -- with Hedberg flat on the ice after colliding with an opposing player and Canucks coach Marc Crawford unable to suppress a smile behind the bench -- it looked like it might be about to happen. But it was not to be.
"I just talked to my parents and they're going to be coming down to the game," he said. "I've been trying to get a hold of my girlfriend but she's in the midst of studying for exams, too."
Students on campus were excited when told of Levesque's good fortune.
"That's cool, that's really awesome for him," said first-year arts student Kali-Ann Cameron, 18, who plays defence for the UBC women's hockey team. "I'm glad [the Canucks] found him."
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