Two days after Zach Hyman scored his 50th goal of the season, a well-known hockey media member decided to post a video that completely diminished the accomplishment and instead veered much closer to straight-up attacking the player and making outlandish statements.
The overall delivery of the message is highly nuanced and there is truth behind the points being made, but the validity of said points essentially gets discarded by public opinion when the timing happens to come when there’s a league-wide feel-good story about the player. I’ll spare you the details, and instead of giving a bad take at a bad time more engagement, I’ll leave it up to you to search it on Twitter if you’d like. Hint, the video came from someone whose name rhymes with Bandrew Erkshire.
Instead, let’s focus on what actually transpired on the ice mere hours after this video took over the hockey world.
Hyman says hello
The Edmonton Oilers faced off against the Winnipeg Jets in a back-and-forth game. The Jets scored first, Edmonton responded and put up a 3–1 lead. The Jets answered back and tied it up at three apiece in the third period.
Next thing you know, the game required overtime.
On a Jets turnover in the Oilers’ zone, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins skated the puck out with possession. Leon Draisaitl skated to the bench for a change and Hyman came on in replacement. Picking up a pass by the boards, Hyman drove to the net and got a backhand shot off that Connor Hellebuyck couldn’t corral.
A juicy rebound landed right on Hyman’s stick again and he tapped it into the net for the overtime winner.
That’s goal #51 on the season, and more emphatically, career goal #200 for Zach Hyman.
Goals are goals
At the end of the day, Hyman’s season has been a magical run. Scoring 50 goals for the first time as a 31-year-old is just mindboggling and is worthy of praise and celebration.
The resounding majority of hockey fans can at least appreciate a 50-goal season and a 200-goal career as nothing to scoff at, nothing to critique, and nothing but the highest of accomplishments.
