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Highlight Goal Brings Attention to ACHA, Atlanta Hockey

10/17/2012, 7:30am MDT
By Mike Scandura

(LINK TO VIDEO: http://youtu.be/K7DyluGl_sE)


Special to USAHockey.com

Ever since the NHL’s Atlanta Thrashers moved to Winnipeg following the 2010-11 season, the chances of an Atlanta hockey team appearing on ESPN were slim and none.

That changed on Oct. 2, courtesy of Kennesaw State forward Justin Day.

Day scored what best could be described as an improbable goal during an 8-1 victory over Alabama in an American Collegiate Hockey Association game at the Kennesaw Ice Forum north of Atlanta. The ACHA is the umbrella organization for collegiate club hockey teams.

Day, a Woodstock High alumnus and former Atlanta Junior Thrasher, was tripped by Alabama’s Ken Janssen, yet from his knees with his back to the cage, he somehow lifted a backhander past goalie Sean Vinson.

The wheels for sending a video of the goal viral soon set in motion.

Teammate Larry Adegoke contacted ESPN anchor/hockey analyst John Buccigross and Gongshow Hockey Gear, which markets hockey apparel, regarding video footage of the game, which, of course, included Day’s spectacular goal.

Atlanta’s H&H Multimedia was contacted about using the clip to help promote the ACHA. H&H Multimedia obliged, and then four things happened:

• The ACHA posted the clip on its home page.

• Gongshow Hockey Gear placed a link to the video on its Facebook page.

• Bucccigross commenced tweeting about the goal on Oct. 1.

• ESPN ranked Day’s goal No. 2 among its top 10 plays of the day, which were aired on Oct. 2.

What transpired next, as far as Day was concerned, was beyond comprehension.

The clip was posted Oct. 1 on YouTube and, within the first 24 hours, it was viewed approximately 18,000 times.

To say the clip went viral would be a massive understatement.

“After the second period [when Day scored his goal], the players who didn’t dress for the game basically said that was hands-down the coolest goal they’d ever seen in an ACHA game,” Day said. “It was unreal. Imagine one day it’s just a cool video and the next it simply blew up — faster than I could have imagined.

“It definitely was the coolest thing that’s happened to me.”

Day was quickly inundated with text messages, emails and phone calls.

Fortunately, his smart phone automatically updates his Twitter and Facebook accounts, but virtually 24/7 he had to make sure it was constantly charged.

As best as Day can recall, he skated out of the right corner in Alabama’s defensive zone with the puck and, initially, thought he could get off a shot on Vinson. But after Janssen tripped him, any thoughts of putting a shot on goal evaporated into thin air.

“I really thought I’d lost any opportunity for a shot,” Day said. “The one thing I did was to go high because I know when Sean goes down he drops his blocker and glove.

“He was doing that the whole game, and that’s how I scored on him before [the highlight goal was Day’s second of the night]. When I saw the play on video, it looked much cooler than it felt.”

Day is a sophomore who majors in international business and plays on a club team that’s breathed new hockey life into the metro Atlanta area.

The Owls average 1,000 fans for their home games, which are played on Fridays and Saturdays, and without question help fill a void created by the departure of the Thrashers.

In fact, according to Day, fans tailgate before games just like fans would before a college or pro football game. Some fans even use oil drums as noisemakers.

But no amount of noise could create a decibel level equivalent to the amount of attention Day’s received since his highlight-show goal.

Story courtesy of Red Line Editorial, Inc.

Tag(s): News Archive