San
Jose Sharks Tomas Hertl (48) celebrates his fourth goal of the night
against New York Rangers in the third period at SAP Center in San Jose,
Calif., on Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2013. (Josie Lepe/Bay Area News Group)
SAN JOSE -- A teenager without a
car managed to travel across the hockey universe Wednesday.Tomas Hertl, the Sharks' 19-year-old wunderkind, woke up as an Internet sensation after his breakout performance against the New York Rangers.
It wasn't just that Hertl scored four goals. It was that he capped off his night with a goal for the ages, a between-the-legs trick shot that looked like an optical illusion -- the miracle on eyes.
The shot cemented his recently coined nickname, "Teenage Mutant Ninja Hertl," and ignited a Twitter inferno. A video clip of the final goal promptly topped 300,000 hits on YouTube.
It was the shot Hertl'd 'round the world.
"I don't know anybody associated with the game who hasn't seen it yet," said Ray Ferraro, a longtime NHL center now broadcasting for TSN in Canada.
Hertl, a highly regarded 2012 first-round draft pick out of the Czech Republic, became the first NHL rookie to score four goals in a game since 1988, when Jimmy Carson did it for the Los Angeles Kings, also at age 19. Only one other Sharks player has scored four goals in a game: Owen Nolan, who did it Dec. 19, 1995.
By then, Nolan was an established All-Star in his seventh NHL season. Hertl? He still bums rides to practices with goalie Alex Stalock because he doesn't have his own wheels.
Hertl can't rent a car -- he fails to meet the minimum age requirement of 21 -- and he didn't want to buy one because he wasn't sure he'd make the team.
His spot looks secure now, both on the roster and in hockey lore. Hertl had already scored two goals in his first two NHL games entering play Tuesday night.
He added three more goals against the Rangers, and then, with about 12 minutes to go in the third period, he slid the puck behind him, placed his stick between his legs and flipped the puck over goalie Marty Biron and into the left-corner of the net.
The crowd at SAP Center went wild. Hertl had topped his
San
Jose Sharks rookie Tomas Hertl set the ice on fire Tuesday evening in a
four-goal barrage en route to a 9-2 victory over the New York Rangers.
The 19-year-old from the Czech Republic poses at the team's practice
facility, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2013, in San Jose, Calif., before taking
off on the first road trip of the season. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News
Group) (Karl Mondon)
Adding to the dramatic scene were the shots of Hertl's mother in the stands weeping as she watched her boy become a star. She was wearing a No. 12 jersey, not in honor of the Sharks' Patrick Marleau but because the number represents the year Hertl was drafted.
Hertl, meanwhile, charmed the crowd by giving his best shot during a postgame interview, despite his broken English. "This is dream," Hertl said. "No reality."
Hertl wasn't the only one struggling for the right words.
"I haven't seen a goal like that probably ever," said TV analyst Barry Melrose, who has been around the game as a player, coach and commentator for most of his 57 years.
"A pretty phenomenal moment," goalie turned broadcaster Darren Pang said.
Not everyone was enthralled, however. Because Hertl's goal came with the Sharks already leading 7-2, he left himself open to accusations of showboating. As Melrose noted in a phone interview: "Twenty years ago, he would have gotten the crap kicked out of him if he went back out on the ice again for embarrassing the Rangers. I'm pretty surprised something didn't happen."
Bob McKenzie, the esteemed hockey insider for TSN, said via email
that he suspected the Rangers were upset with the flashy score late in a blowout. He noted that Sharks coach Todd McLellan kept Hertl off the ice after the fourth goal, possibly to avoid any attempts at retaliation.Pang, who hosts a radio show that airs from Edmonton to Vancouver, said the goal was a very hot topic Wednesday with an equally hot debate about whether Hertl got carried away.
Pang came to his defense.
"I don't think it was something he was trying to embarrass anybody with," Pang said by phone. "I just think it's age. Naivete. Youthful enthusiasm. If he had been in the league a few years and had a reputation for (doing it repeatedly), that's different. But he comes in with a fresh slate. ... There's no question I give him a break on that."
The debate, however, could not overshadow the goal itself. Melrose said he could think of only one goal in its class, a similar behind-the-back shot by Marek Malik in a 2006 shootout for the Rangers. But Melrose said Hertl's was more impressive, since the Sharks rookie did it with defensemen in hot pursuit.
Ferraro, who scored 408 career goals from 1984 to 2002, said the most incredible thing to him was that Hertl even tried it in the first place.
"If it doesn't work you probably a look a bit like a donkey," he said. "But somewhere in his mind's eye, he could see it happening. Heck, I played 19 years in the league, and I never even would have thought of it."
