Faceoff Factor

Shooting Pucks Can Get You Rich

Ashley Gallant | National Hockey League

Feb 28, 12:58 PM | Hype this story!

If someone told you that you could win one million dollars by shooting pucks into an open net, could you do it?

Could you do it if you had to score 15 goals on 20 shots in 24 seconds?

How about from the far blue line?

Last night, Darwin Head of Saskatchewan got the opportunity to do just that, and live on national television.

Here’s what happened:

In late December, TSN launched their second annual “Chevy Malibu Million Dollar Shootout” contest. I put my name in the box and earned a few bonus entries by playing their online game. Then, in early February, one name was chosen from over 8 million entries, and it wasn’t my name (still a little bitter about that).

If it couldn’t be me, then I’m glad it was Darwin Head.

Head and two of his buddies flew to Vancouver the other day and got a little one-on-one instruction from some former hockey player named Bobby Orr. They say he was kind of good. I dunno.

Anyways, the festivities happened on Wednesday night during the first intermission of the game between the Vancouver Canucks and the Colorado Avalanche. It was the second game of a double-header on TSN, so you know people were watching – especially the Leaf fans who just watched their team beat the Florida Panthers.

Nail-biting, edge-of-your-seat exciting, I’m tellin’ ya!

There were two parts to the contest.

Part 1
Head and his buddies stood at centre ice and each had a chance to shoot 10 pucks at an open net. If a total of 5 goals were scored, Darwin won a 2008 Chevy Malibu Hybrid; 10 goals meant that all three won cars; and 15 goals meant that all three plus some guy in the crowd won cars.

Centre ice? Pffft….no problem! They didn’t even need the third guy to shoot.

Part 2
Head moved back to the far blue line and had 24 seconds to score 15 goals in 20 shots. A cool million dollars was waiting…

...And now Darwin Head is Canada’s newest millionaire!

GM Place….a full house…live on national television….in front of Bobby Orr….with a million dollar grand prize….easy as cake. I bet I could have done it, but I guess we will never know.

Good on ya, Darwin! You deserved the cash.

And now that you have demonstrated that you are a true sniper on the ice, the Toronto Maple Leafs should be knocking on your door any day. Just make sure to ask for a no trade clause so that you’ll fit in with the rest of the guys.

Next year it will be me at GM Place, taking Bobby Orr’s advice and showing the world that I can find the back of the net.

Maybe I could join the Penguins as another scoring winger. After all, the only reason why the Pens picked up Marian Hossa was because they didn’t know that I was available.