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Joey Hishon’s First NHL Goal Was A 38 Special!

By Austin Manak

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Finally!

Last night Joey Hishon scored his first career NHL goal! While this is always a special achievement for a player, Hishon’s was extra-special.

Sometimes you know a player is going to score his first NHL goal. Avalanche fans knew Matt Duchene, Gabriel Landeskog, and Nathan MacKinnon were going to score many goals in their careers.

For Joey Hishon, this was always less certain. The promising young Joey suffered a major concussion in his final year of junior hockey, after being drafted in the first-round by the Colorado Avalanche. At the time, Hish was leading his Owen Sound Attack through the playoffs, and appeared on the fast track to join Matt Duchene and Ryan O’Reilly, who had been drafted the year before Hishon, as part of the young core of the Avalanche.

Post-concussion, Hishon’s future was much more cloudy. Head injuries are downright scary, and it was a long road for Hishon to recover. He is finally getting his shot in the NHL. Last night, in his 11th regular season game with the Avalanche, a bright light (and loud horn) went off at the end of that tunnel.

At 7:06 Hishon whipped a wicked wrister past Pekka Rinne, in what proved to be the game-winning goal.

How sweet it was! My heart hasn’t felt this warm after an Avalanche goal in a while. I was so pumped and excited, and happy for Hishon. I’ve been not-so-secretely one of his biggest fans since the day Brayden McNabb layed an elbow into his head, given my own history with a traumatic brain injury.

I’m sure Hishon and his family were even more excited, and had a lot of those same feelings multiplied several times. In a post-game interview posted to the Avalanche.com website, Hish said about the goal, “after everything I went through there the last few years, it means even more to me. It as a pretty special moment.” A 38 Special moment.

The aftermath of the goal was a blur for Hishon, who said “I saw it go in, and I completely blacked out. My adrenaline was pumping for the rest of the game, and I was trying not to smile, but we got the win now so I’m allowed to smile I think.”

While Joey “blacked out” and may not remember exactly what he was doing or thinking after scoring while on cloud-nine, what teammate Gabriel Landeskog did was certainly memorable.

As Joey went down the fist bump and high five line, as per hockey tradition, Hishon got a refreshing surprise from the Captain. Landeskog emptied an entire water bottle into Hishon’s face!

Hishon was probably already having a hard time to breath before he got a mouth-full of water from Landy. It was a great moment, and what hockey is all about. You could see the joy and excitement in the entire Avalanche bench as Hishon the Magician skated by.

Even sweeter is the fact that the Avalanche went on to win the game, and Hishon’s goal proved to be the game-winner. Joey was named the first-star of the night, and what magical a night it was.

It was exactly the night Joey Hishon deserved.

Congratulations on your first NHL goal, Joey Hishon. Here’s to many more!

*quotes taken from Avalanche.com post-game video. Thanks to @AvsPodcast for the Vine!**

Next: Free Joey Hishon!

Next: Hishon Deserves To Be An Avalanche

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