There was a flashback moment last week when the Owen Sound Attack hosted the Guelph Storm.
After the opening faceoff, the game was delayed as Guelph detected a clerical error on the Owen Sound lineup card.
Apparently, the Attack lineup card had # 29 K ” Gabor ” written down rather than the correct # 29 K ” Gabriel.
By the laws of the game, that made Kurtis Gabriel ineligible to play due to the transposition of names.
However, the official game sheet had it right and Gabriel was retrieved from the dressingroom and continued in the game.
The flashback took me to the 2002 NHL playoffs between the Toronto Maple Leafs and New York Islanders, a spirited enough series with controversy when the start of one of the games was delayed.
A clerical error by the Leafs, meant that Robert Reichel was banished from the game.
Thirteen years later, I’ve always wondered, based on Reichel’s playoff performances, if the error by the Leafs wasn’t made on purpose.
I’m Fred Wallace