Dec 21 2008
Flyers fans’ hat throwing predicts actual hat trick
It was only a week and a half ago I talked about Hat Tricks in hockey and the cool tradition of throwing hats on the ice. The only problem is that the hats are usually thrown immediately after the third goal, before they announce who actually scored it. We had a case of premature hat-throwing yesterday at the Flyers-Capitals game. Simon Gagne, who had two goals at the time, and Scott Hartnell both simultaneously swung at the puck in the air and it went into the net. Fans assumed it was Gagne’s third goal of the game and the hats rained down.
When they announced it was actually Hartnell’s second of the game, the cheers were a little subdued. Some fans were probably pissed that they threw away a perfectly good hat for no reason. In an effort to make sure all was not lost, Hartnell later added his third goal in the Flyer’s 7-1 blowout, and even more hats followed. So whatever was thrown before would have ended up on the ice anyway. By the way, who would expect two hat tricks from Hartnell in five games? Not to mention that the Flyers were outshot 48-28 yet won by six goals. Just goes to show you what an incredible game it was.
