David Leggio is up to his old tricks, so it's a great Saturday morning to brush up on our hockey vernacular.
Leggio, verb: A goaltender's act of intentionally dislodging his or her own net on a breakaway after realizing they're done for, screwed, all hope is lost. The term "Leggio" also could could be used to describe an uncanny impression of Pierre McGuire, but that's neither here nor there.
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We bring this up because Leggio, who plays for EHC Red Bull München of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga in Germany these days, resorted to his trademarked defense mechanism Friday night in a 5-2 win over the Fischtown Pinguins. The game was tied 1-all in the second period when Ross Mauermann started in on a breakaway. And instead of meeting the challenge head on, Leggio calmly turned, shoved his net off its moorings and accepted the consequences.
You'll remember Leggio first pulled this maneuver in 2014 during an AHL game with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. In that case, it was a 2-on-0 situation and Leggio upped his odds, opting instead to face the penalty shot that followed, which he successfully stopped.
The AHL changed its rule that offseason to result in a game misconduct when a goalie purposely dislodges his own net — the Leggio Rule — but apparently the DEL hasn't caught on.
This feels like a good time to remember Leggio is probably going to be an Olympian this year.
Now imagine: USA vs. Canada, medal round, Pyeongchang. It's overtime and Wojtek Wolski sets off on a breakaway. We can only dream.
