Sick goal of the year candidate from Vincent Praplan in Champions League (Video)
Everyone has their own criteria for a “goal of the year” candidate.
Some like a stunning display of hands to baffle a goalie. Others feel the journey to the net is as important as what happens there.
If you’re in the later category, you’re going to love this tally from Vincent Praplan of Kloten in the Champions Hockey League against HV71, our favorite hockey team that either sounds like a newly discovered planet or a vaccine.
Sick. Ness. Alas, Praplan's team lost 3-2 in the game, played in Jönköping, Sweden.
Let’s count the sicknesses that comprised this goal:
1. That spin move to enter the zone, taking a pass from his teammate and whirling around a defender.
2. Avoiding a stick check on one side, and another defender on the other, by spitting them with a strong move to the goal.
3. Collecting a bounding puck right before engaging the goalie.
4. Now the entire team is collapsing around him, and he still manages to keep the puck, go to his backhand and slip it around the goalie’s pad.
Must be something in the water over in the CHL. On Day 1 of the League, Trinec defenseman Marek Trončinský scored a between-the-legs beauty. So thanks, Champions League, for keeping Hockey YouTube alive in August.
Praplan played for the North Bay Battalion last season. He’s 20 years old. We imagine we’ll hear his name again at some point. Or at least see it in the goals of the year countdown.
