Harold Robinson, a personal trainer, has been goaltending at Chelsea Piers in Manhattan for 25 years. Yesterday might’ve started just as any other day for the Rec League goalie, but in an unexpected and very wholesome turn of events, the 65-year-old ended up practicing with the NHL team San Jose Sharks.
The Chelsea Piers’ locker rooms are shared and not even private for NHL teams. As the San Jose Sharks prepared for Thursday’s game against the New York Rangers, they shared locker room spaces with a Rec League team.
Harold Robinson was just about to change rinks when one of the Sharks’ staff members approached him with a question taken from a dream.
”I came out of the locker room because I was heading over towards Chelsea open hockey [at another rink], and one of the [San Jose Sharks] equipment managers turned around and said to me, Coach wants you to get on the ice,” Robinson told San Jose Hockey Now. ”I looked at him, you gotta be kidding me?”
San Jose Sharks’ incredible gesture
The 65-year-old goalie, with no NHL experience whatsoever, took shots from NHL players, and reporters at the practice were quick to post videos of it on social media, which, of course, went viral.
Apparently, it was head coach Ryan Warsofsky’s initiative, and he even asked Robinson to speak in front of the group and give a little presentation of himself.
”I’m standing here with a professional hockey team, talking about myself,” Robinson said. “And here’s all these great players on this up-and-coming team.”
What an incredible gesture from the Sharks and head coach Warsofsky to give this Rec League goalie the thrill of a lifetime. We absolutely love to see it!
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