Minnesota Wild Sign 51-Year-Old Beer League Goalie Paul Deutsch to Amateur Tryout Contract As Emergency Backup

by NESN Staff on Wed, Nov 23, 2011 at 11:56PM

The Minnesota Wild had a bit of a goalie situation on their hands Wednesday night, and as a result they turned to 51-year-old Paul Deutsch.

The Wild signed Deutsch to an amateur contract agreement so that he could be the team’s emergency backup. Starter Niklas Backstrom was out of the lineup for personal reasons, meaning Josh Harding would get the start in net. Matt Hackett was recalled from the AHL to serve as the backup, meanwhile, but his flight wasn’t scheduled to land in Minnesota until about 6:30 p.m.

In the end, Hackett made it to the arena just before 7 p.m., but it looked for a little bit like the 51-year-old Deutsch was going to have to suit up. Fortunately — or unfortunately, depending on how you want to look at it — Deutsch never had to, which even enabled him to make his beer-league game.

Check out the video above to hear more about this crazy story.