MARQUETTE, Mich. (WJMN) — A little luck plus a lot of skill has shot goalie Jordan Nagelkirk into the online spotlight after a hockey video that’s gone viral.
The Marquette, Michigan, native said he was playing a game in a beer hockey league in Portland, Oregon, when he got “a lucky break.”
“It was a late-night hockey game just for fun and, you know, you just get a lucky break every now and then where you do something crazy,” he said.
Nagelkirk captured his now-viral video about two years ago using a GoPro camera, and it has been shared by the NHL, Barstool Sports and multiple big-name hockey blogs and has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times.
And it all started with loose straps on his hockey pads.
“I’m an old school hockey fan, so I found these great 1990’s Brian’s USA hockey pads. I bought them and they got like 50 straps on them,” Nagelkirk said. “First night wearing them, one of the straps goes. The faceoff is on the opposite side of the ice, so I’m trying to fix my strap thinking they’re not going to rush me.”
He said after the faceoff, he saw players rushing toward him while his strap was still loose. He said as they approached, he executed a drop and roll move, or the Hasek Roll, which was a signature move for former Czech goaltender Dominik Hasek, known as “The Dominator.”
“I’ve been kind of playing with the Hasek roll move now. It’s just kind of a fun flair. I pull that out, it works,” Nagelkirk said. “Fortunately, I still have some flexibility. So, I was able to pull off that split save. It was pretty fun. I knew right after, the refs came down and said, ‘Oh that’s a keeper clip right there for sure.'”
The video was far from an overnight success.
“I think I just threw it up on my small Instagram or YouTube and there is a goalie group on Facebook. That kind of picked up steam and shared around a bit. I think TSN picked it up at first, then it just kind of went off from there.”
He said he reposted the video a few days ago, saying, “Hey NHL, you haven’t called me yet. Looking for my contract.”
He said it picked up steam again and “went all over the place.”
“It’s been kind of wild,” he said.
Nagelkirk still has yet to receive that contract, but his recent notoriety may be the next best thing.
“I love the position of goaltending. I’ve been doing it for virtually my whole life. I have my moments where I can make some pretty cool stuff happen. It’s pretty neat to see that going out in the world and have other people recognize that as well. It’s a good feeling. It’s a good pump up my tires, you know, make me feel pretty good,” he said. “For a beer leaguer, this is probably as good as it gets. Next to, you know, getting called up as an emergency goaltender for an NHL team this is right up there. It’s pretty neat just being recognized, you know, in a sport you love to play for fun.”