Caps' Web Producer Gets NHL Debut

On December 12, the Washington Capitals were faced with an unusual situation. That evening they were scheduled to play against the Ottawa Senators at 7:00 pm at the Verizon Center. Jose Theodore, one of the Caps' two goaltenders, left the morning skate early with a hip-flexor injury. The other goalie, Brent Johnson, who had missed games earlier in the season with a hip injury and had tweaked said injury on December 10th in a game against the Boston Bruins, was well enough to start the game but had no backup netminder. If his hip didn't make it through the game, the Caps were in trouble. The Caps called up goaltender Simeon Varlamov from the team's American Hockey League affiliate Hershey Bears, but there were complications: 1) Varlamov and the Bears were in Houston on a road trip, and 2) his flight wouldn't arrive in DC until minutes before the start of the game. The Caps needed a backup goalie to fill in until Varlamov made it to the game. So they grabbed their web producer, Brett Leonhardt, and assigned him the task. Leonhardt had been a goaltender in college, so it's not like he was some random guy off the street with no experience. But just imagine. He sat on the bench for the first 10 minutes of the game in front of thousands of fans before Varlamov, who changed his clothes in the car on the way from Reagan airport to Verizon Center, relieved him. I'll bet those ten minutes were the most exhilirating of his life.

You should really read the brief story by ESPN.