There’s a lot to say about Marc-Andre Fleury: a great goalie, an incredible teammate – and a legendary prankster.
Fleury is, undoubtedly, one of the best goalies the NHL has ever seen. He’s second in league history in career wins, only behind Hall of Famer Patrick Roy.
He was an important factor behind the Pittsburgh Penguins’ dynasty years, winning three Stanley Cups. He’s also a Vezina Trophy winner, and he’s become the fourth goalie to reach 1,000 games played, after Roy, Martin Brodeur, and Roberto Luongo.
Fleury’s resume as a hockey goalie is impressive, but Fleury has also been highly praised for what a teammate he is and how hilarious he is to have in a locker room. And over his long and massively impressive career, he’s also made himself known as one of the pranksters the league has ever seen.
There are just so many stories about Fleury’s pranks out there—everything from taping Sidney Crosby’s gear together to toilet papering teammates’ cars to putting on a wig and fake mustache and joining the ice crew in the middle of a game.
But Fleury’s perhaps greatest prank was on a coach he had in Pittsburgh, which involved stealing a phone and the dating app Tinder.
READ MORE: Marc-Andre Fleury gets sweet revenge on former teammate with one of the most epic pranks we’ve seen
Rick Tocchet, then a Pittsburgh assistant coach, told The Athletic that Fleury somehow got a hold of the trainers’ phone, and while on it, he set up a profile on the dating app.
”’I’m (a trainer) for the Penguins, we won the Cup last year, if you want to come to the game.’ That was the long and short of it,” Tocchet recalls of the fake message.
”(Fleury) got her front-row seats, club seats. He rolled out the red carpet for her. They were packing the bus up, and the girl was with the families in that section and waiting. So (the trainer) walks by her and has no clue. She’s like, ‘Do I give him a hug or say hi?’ He was like, ‘What is this girl doing?’ That was all Flower! But they ended up dating for a couple months, so the story turned out really good.”
Marc-Andre Fleury still remembers the prank and feels he did the trainer a service.
”At least the trainer got a date out of it,” Fleury smiled. ”That’s something to do at least.”
