If solely this fan had been on the ice in additional time.
Diehard Islanders fan Sean Umhafer went viral by making the shot of a lifetime from middle ice as he gained a $1,000 Ticketmaster voucher throughout an intermission of New York’s crushing 2-1 OT loss to the Oilers Friday night time.
“Each single greenback will in all probability go to extra Islanders tickets,” Umhafer, who scored the golden objective right into a web that was completely lined besides for 3 teensy prize slots, informed The Submit.
“That was electrical,” he added of going five-hole and making the jackpot within the smallest field.
Umhafer, a 29-year-old authorized tech salesman from Massapequa Park, is not any stranger to hockey as he performs in three males’s leagues and even had a sport on UBS Enviornment ice previously.
Nonetheless, Friday night time had a contact of destiny that led him to glory between the second and third intervals.
“My pal and I took an earlier practice than we usually do,” Umhafer mentioned. “We had been hanging out at a bar within the enviornment, and a girl with the group simply got here as much as us and requested, ‘Do any of you play hockey?’”
Identical to that, all eyes had been on the leisure ahead as he admitted the gang — 15,879 — was greater than a tad larger than his final sport at Belmont.
“I saved considering, I play three nights every week,” Umhafer, a former season ticket holder, mentioned. “I higher at the least get shut.”
His first strive slid approach proper of the web as followers — already irked the Islanders had been down 1-0 on the time — reigned boos. They had been so loud it could possibly be heard on video captured by Umhafer’s pal Brett Ansbacher.
In his protection, the seasoned hockey participant had to make use of an outsized stick that was poking his chest.
Sensing the “nerves” and pressure, Islanders public deal with announcer Andrew Sykora handed alongside some golden recommendation to Umhafer earlier than capturing once more.
“He mentioned, ‘Take your time’ as a result of I used to be making an attempt to hurry it,” Umhafer mentioned. “Then I used to be like, ‘You already know what, I’m going to take my time — I’m going to take a second, play with the puck a bit of bit.”
Then the magic occurred because the Isles devoted roared for the primary house objective of the night time.
The viral second has since been picked up on hockey social media by main pages like Bardown and the Islanders’ personal Instagram.
“Within the second, I did my regular celly that I do after scoring in my males’s league,” he mentioned of dropping to 1 knee and fist-pumping to the shocked crowd.
This time, nevertheless, Umhafer pulled out a pair of sun shades and regarded “cool, calm, and picked up” to the digicam.
“You’ve gotta act such as you’ve been right here earlier than,” he mentioned. “The glasses had been a cherry on prime.”
