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Flames' Blair Riley forced to exit game after 16 seconds following lineup card gaffe

Sean Leahy
·Contributing writer
Flames' Blair Riley forced to exit game after 16 seconds following lineup card gaffe

Funny little thing happened to Blair Riley of the Calgary Flames on Friday night during their 4-1 win over the Vancouver Canucks at the Saddledome.

The 29-year old pugilist, who has averaged 138 penalty minutes in the last three seasons in the AHL, found himself in a scrap with Brandon Prust in his second shift of the game. That was the last action Riley would see for the night.

You see, it just so happened that Flames head coach Bob Hartley forgot to list Riley on the official gamesheet and the mix-up had the forward in the game while Kenny Agostino, who was on the gamesheet, didn’t dress.

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That’s when Riley got “kicked out” of the game by the officials.

Via Wes Gilbertson of the Calgary Sun:

“It was .. bizarre,” Riley said. “He mentioned that they didn’t have me on the game-sheet so I was getting kicked out. I was obviously pretty confused. I was taking my time leaving, and he said, ‘You know, I had to do this to Marty St. Louis one time, too.’ I said, ‘Well yeah, he’s got about 1,000 games, so he’s probably happy he’s getting kicked out.’

“So yeah, it was bizarre. But that’s the way it goes.”

Hartley took full blame for the gaffe afterward, explaining he made the change on his own personal lineup card, but not the official game sheet that goes to the officials.

Once Riley, who only thought he was going to take warmups, was “ejected,” Agostino was able to dress and get 8:32 of ice time the rest of the game.

Riley’s final line? Two shifts, 16 seconds of ice time and five penalty minutes in a game he "never" played in.

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Sean Leahy is the associate editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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