Mitch Gillam surely dreamt about his collegiate debut a thousand times, but something tells us that the freshman goaltender never envisioned a scenario in which he would score a goal.
But in today’s episode of why sports are awesome, the Cornell University goalie netted an empty-netter in his first start between the pipes, sealing the Big Red Bear’s victory over Niagara. With Cornell up 3-2 late in the third, Niagara pulled their goalie and Gillam showed no hesitation when the opportunity came his way to help his own cause. After gloving a shot that bounced off the boards, the Peterborough, Ontario, native moved himself into shooting position and fired the puck to the opposite end of the ice to light the lamp with just over 10 seconds remaining in the game.
Not a bad first start for Mr. Gillam, as he also joined the record books with his shot, becoming just the eighth NCAA Division I goaltender to score a goal and the third to shoot the puck himself, according to College Hockey, Inc.
Check out the video he’ll surely be watching a couple more times tonight in the video below.
