There's No Cooler Position In Sports Than The EBUG

Jordie1/31/2023 6:50 PM

Andy Devlin. Getty Images.

This one slipped through the cracks from over the weekend, but we had an EBUG live the dream and get a few minutes between the pipes in an NHL game in Edmonton on Saturday night.

Matt Berlin is just a good ol' boy from Edmonton. He played a few seasons in the WHL and is currently playing college hockey in Canada for the University of Alberta. He's not just some random beer leaguer who hasn't played a meaningful game of hockey in a decade. But he's also a guy who thought his dreams of one day playing in the NHL would remain just a dream at least 5 years ago.

That all changed on Saturday afternoon. Matt Berlin gets the call earlier in the day that he'd have to suit up for the Oilers with Stuart Skinner getting sick. He heads to the rink and just figure he's in for a night of watching NHL hockey from the best seat in the house--right on the bench. But since the Chicago Blackhawks are absolute dog shit at hockey, the Oilers had a nice little 7-3 lead built up with under 3 minutes to go in the game. So without having to worry about blowing the lead, Matt Berlin got the green light to takeover in net.

From the University of Alberta to suiting up alongside of Connor McDavid and playing against Patrick Kane. It's one thing to be able to just share a locker room with these guys. But to get in the game, register a save, and have your name written down in the NHL stat book forever? That's the moment of a lifetime right there.

There's no other position in sports where this happens. It's not like a pitcher gets hurt in an MLB game and they get the dude selling popcorn to come down and throw a few fastballs to Mike Trout. It's not like a shooting guard goes down in an NBA game and they take a local high school basketball coach and toss him out there against Luka. It's not like a cornerback rolls an ankle and now a guy who played DIII ball gets called up to try to lock up AJ Brown.

But if a goalie gets hurt in an NHL game and the team doesn't have enough time to bring in somebody else from within the organization, guys like Matt Berlin get the chance to live out their dream. They get to go from playing for the University of Alberta a few days ago to suiting up in a National Hockey League game.

Selfishly I like it better this way that hockey is the only sport that gets stories like this. But imagine the content if Emergency Backups became a thing across all sports? The NFC Championship Game would have been a perfect opportunity. The 49ers are already down to their 4th string QB and Josh Johnson goes down with a concussion. The game was already over at that point, so imagine if they just took some dude from the crowd who played a couple of years of varsity high school football and threw him in a 49ers uniform. That at least would have added a little intrigue to the 2nd half of the game. But until then, the EBUG in hockey is the most electric position in all of sports.

Congrats to Matt Berlin on a helluva career. Greatest save percentage and GAA in NHL history.