Stackhouse Stopped Penalty Shots

Every Wednesday I'll tell a crazy hockey story from hockey's past.

Here's a great story about former Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Ron Stackhouse.

Before he joined the NHL Stackhouse played junior hockey with Roger Nielson's Peterborough Petes in the late 1960s. Now we all know that Roger Nielson was one of hockey's great innovators. Well in the 1967-68 season he experimented with the penalty shot rules. Instead of having a goaltender face the shot, Nielson would have the big bruising defenseman Stackhouse take to the nets, but without any goaltending equipment. Instead Stackhouse was told that as soon as the opposing player touched the puck he was to charge out of the net and check his opponent.

It worked too. Stackhouse was a perfect 6 for 6 that season when facing penalty shots.