[Updated below]
When you score your first NHL goal, its nice to hang on to that puck as a souvenir. Heck, it’s hockey tradition.
Calgay Flames forward Corbin Knight scored his first in the big leagues in Calgary’s 7-2 victory over the Anaheim Ducks.
Linesman Lonnie Cameron accidentally gave Knight’s souvenir to a lucky fan.
MISSING! 1st NHL goal puck. @CorbanKnight
NOT MISSING! @mbacklund11 3 pt night stick. #KnightsDuckPuckHunt pic.twitter.com/d5HBCnCflU— Lonny Corrigall (@EVSdude99) March 13, 2014
While it was rumored that Flames forward Mikael Backlund traded his stick to get the puck back, that wasn’t the case.
I'm sorry to disappoint, but I didn't get @CorbanKnight puck. Didn't even know ref threw it in the stands! Big congrats to Knighter tho!!
— Mikael Backlund (@mbacklund11) March 13, 2014
No word on whether Knight ever did get that puck.
UPDATE: There’s some debate over whether the Cameron-thrown puck was the same one from Knight’s first goal. If he ever lost it at all, Knight had the puck after the game. From Wes Gilbertson of the Calgary Sun:
[Knight] was clutching the lucky puck in his post-game media scrum. When a reporter mentioned to the former standout for the Strathmore-based UFA Bisons and Alberta Junior Hockey League’s Okotoks Oilers that he had probably rehearsed his first NHL goal 500 times on the pond, he nodded in agreement.
“It was the seventh goal, but, for me, it felt like an overtime winner with how I felt after that,” Knight said. “It’s definitely something I’ll never forget. It’s pretty special.”
(Assist to Puck Daddy for this one, with updates via @SUNRandySportak and @SUNGilbertson)