On Saturday during a National League A playoff game in the Switzerland, Cedric Botter of Fribourg-Gottéron fired a shot at the EHC Biel net and the puck went in; well most of it at least.
Botter’s shot connected with the left post and the puck split in half. A big chunk of it went past goalie Reto Berra, but the other portion didn’t go in and Berra swatted it away with his paddle. Clearly the referees had never seen anything like this before and were unsure of whether or not it was a goal at first.
According to Grégory Beaud of 20Minutes.ch, a Swiss sports site: the goal did not end up counting. A translated piece of the story shed some light on the reason why:
At the 35th minute, Cédric Botter thought he had scored the 5-0. After consulting the video referee canceled the success.
The reason? The puck was smashed on the pole and only half of the washer has finished at the bottom of the goal. “I’ve never seen anything like it,” was the referee Stéphane Rochette laughed. This game is totally unusual has fortunately had only minor consequences. “They are heroes”
I honestly can’t believe that something like this happened. To get that puck to break in half requires a near-perfect shot and to have it happen where part of the puck goes in the net is unbelievable. The odds of something like this occurring are astronomical. Luckily it wasn’t a close game because it would have been a shame if something like this had happened during a close playoff game. Fribourg-Gottéron ended up winning 6-1 and advanced to the semifinals.
