February 1, 2023 by Mike Dirsa

I am thinking back to the final two minutes and change of the third period of Saturday night’s game between the Edmonton Oilers and Chicago Blackhawks. A beautiful moment for a 25-year-old goaltender for the University of Alberta Golden Bears in Matt Berlin has been turned upside down by some who believe this was disrespectful to the Blackhawks.

Berlin got the call to come into the game for Jack Campbell when the score was 7-3 with just over two minutes left on the clock. Berlin was signed to a amateur tryout (ATO) signed earlier in the day due to Stuart Skinner battling an illness and not having enough time to recall a goalie from the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors. The decision to put Berlin into the game was to give a young man a thrill of a lifetime. The score in the game was 7-3 the game was over but yet still some people want to think this move was showing disrespect to the Blackhawks.

In every sport I can think of when games are well in hand, it is commonplace to empty your bench and give depth players time. In the NFL, starting quarterbacks are pulled in runaway games to avoid injury and nobody questions it. Why does hockey seem to be the only sport that putting in bench players can be taken as a sign of disrespect? To me showing a little bit of mercy being seen as disrespectful is comical. If I was the Blackhawks seeing Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Evander Kane as a line after Berlin being put in would be more disrespectful. Looking up at a 7-3 score would hurt my pride way more than the guy in between the pipes at the other end.

This wonderful moment has been blown out of proportion to the point where negative commenters on social media have deduced that those two minutes and change have ruined the Oilers chances at a Stanley Cup, and it being a bad look on the leadership core of the team, Jay Woodcroft and Ken Holland. I have to shake my head and laugh out loud. Longtime Oilers beat writer Terry Jones decided to turn Berlin’s moment into a temper tantrum over Shannon Szabados not getting a chance to have a moment of her own.

I will close my frustration rant on a positive by quoting Jonathan Torrens on Twitter, who said “This was a decision made by the players and required buy-in from everyone. Speaks to the good culture in the Edmonton Oilers room. Love it.” I loved it, too, and am disappointed that there are people trying to dim the light off a night Matt Berlin will never forget.