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Alberta Golden Bears’ Kurtis Mucha becomes first goalie to score in Canada West game (VIDEO)

Neate Sager

Kurtis Mucha did something on Friday which had never, ever been done in the long history of Canada West university hockey: he scored a goal.

How did it happen? It was the standard opposing-goalie-off-on-a-delayed-penalty, errant-pass-goes-in-the-net scenario. Mucha, a former Western Hockey League goalie who now plays for the Alberta Golden Bears (currently ranked No. 4 in Canadian Interuniversity Sport), was credited with the goal since he was the last U of A man to touch the puck after stopping a long shot. The one twist is that the Lethbridge Pronghorns' off-the-mark pass from out of the corner to the goaltender's left banked off the boards in the neutral zone and rolled into the net. It was karma for Kurtis Mucha, though, as he said in Alberta's media release:

"The funny thing is, I almost had a couple of assists that night too. I moved the puck up ice a couple of times and was the third assist on a couple of goals, so I was pretty close to a two- or three-point night."

"The guys on the team, especially the guys without goals, are all chirping at me for sure."

Could it have happened to a more deserving goalie? Mucha, a 23-year-old from the Edmonton suburb of Sherwood Park, Alta., played five seasons in the WHL, including three as the starter for the Portland Winterhawks before that franchise began its current renaissance. His goal on Friday, which came in the first period, was nearly the game-winner until Lethbridge spoiled his shutout bid with 4:22 left in the game. On the season, Mucha has a 1.33 average and .928 save percentage in Canada West play. And he's inked his name into the scroll of stoppers who have scored. One of the slings and arrows of such outrageous fortune is getting chirped over his Twitter account (@tooka31), but he's taking it in stride:

"It's a pretty cool feeling; obviously goalies don't score very often, I don't even know if it happens once a year in any league, so it was a definite once in-a-lifetime experience for sure. I didn't know it was my goal until the five guys on the bench skated over and started telling me. Usually when we score the guys all skate by, but this time they stopped and told me."

Canadian university hockey gets scarce media attention, but it can fill the void for fans amid the NHL lockout.

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Contact him at neatesager@yahoo.ca and follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet (video: University of Alberta).