Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Henrik Sedin Scored the Goal of the Year and Nobody Noticed



Do you remember this goal? Have you seen it before? It's amazing. Textbook Wizardous Sedinerie. It might be the best goal of this NHL season, it happened only one week ago, and yet nobody's talking about it.

Let me take you through what you're seeing: That's Henrik Sedin there, outskating two Shark players to turn an innocuous one-on-one into a sudden two-on-one. That's Daniel Sedin, taking the puck parallel to the blue line, perfectly timing his meandering entry into the zone with Henrik's sudden burst of speed, then making a tape-to-tape saucer pass to spring his brother in alone. And finally, that's Henrik Sedin again, drawing Antti Niemi well past his goalmouth, then wizardously dragging the puck to the backhand and sliding it into an empty net.

Henrik's move is an an incredible piece of stickhandling and poise that, up until now, was native only to the shootout. Peter Forsberg is famous for it. Henrik Zetterberg did it once, too. But, they did it in the shootout, with time, forethought, and healthy dose of space. Henrik Sedin pulled it off in-game, at top speed, surrounded by defenders.

And nobody's talking about it.

12 comments:

  1. HAH. It's all the rage in my house. I'm pretty sure we still talk about it while we sleep.

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  2. You forgot to mention that it was one-handed. One-freaking-handed. We're so spoiled with the Sedins we are maybe at risk of taking this stuff for granted. Yet, if Ovie had scored that kind of goal, we'd be hearing about it ad-nauseum (and, btw, Hank ends up against the boards rather Ovie-esque-ly, but then very Sedin-ically quietly celebrates with the team).

    My mom and I discussed this, several times, over the phone. We heart those boys like we birthed. (It's almost that sick.) And then we ranted about how other news outlets under-appreciate the Sedins. Last night's game, we were watching a US feed, and the commentators were ragging on Henrik's miscue, saying they're known for being 'too fancy.' Hollering at the computer ensued.

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  3. Some people go on road trips and overlook the scenery longing for the destination and they miss the best part.
    Some folks watch Henrik and Daniel and miss the Sedinerie expecting the points to just pile up.
    Happy Australia day PITB now go skull a frosty one!

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  4. Daniel and I talked about it. :)

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  5. i dunno about goal of the year but top 3 for sure. i still like the eberle goal more(dont hate me). but the fact that hank scored it is just amazing. wizards of the west coast

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  6. Goal of the year for sure. If Sid or Ovi had scored this we'd never hear the end of it.

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  7. I love how Niemi's looking at him like he was still expecting Henrik to pass it.

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  8. It was AMAZING. I could watch the whole set up and execution over and over again. Itruly wish it got more attention, if Sid or Ovie or even Kesler did it it'd be all over the place.

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  9. We're just spoiled Vancouverites, we got to see these guys doing it every week, multiple times per week even...
    Great to be a Canucks fan!

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  10. I think part of the reason why no one is talking about is because we lost that game, and it was early in the game. You can bet that if that had been a game winner, more attention would be drawn to it.

    As well, I'm pretty sure Henrik was just passing the puck behind the net, but that pesky netting got in the way.

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  11. @James W: "As well, I'm pretty sure Henrik was just passing the puck behind the net, but that pesky netting got in the way."

    Ha. That's probably true.

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  12. As soon as Henrik had one hand on his stick I shouted 'Goal of the year'. Nobody agreed with me out loud, and I didn't hear anything on twitter, so I doubted myself.

    itsmurf.tumblr.com

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