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Minnesota's Kevin Fiala flips teammate's stick back to him in what's easily the most mesmerizing video of the year
Regrettably, we're a bit late on this video, but that doesn't make it any less mesmerizing to watch. On Sunday night in a game between the Nashville Predators and the Minnesota Wild, Wild defenseman Anthony Bitetto lost his stick while his team was in the Nashville zone. Normally, if your stick is broken, the only option is to go to the bench and get another (unless you're playing in a men's league, then you're sh*t out of luck). Even if it isn't broken, players rarely take the chance of trying to retrieve it, because it could put teammates in an odd-man situation while you're in the corner trying to find your twig. Your best move is to play on and get a new stick when you have a chance.
Or, you could have a teammate like Kevin Fiala, Minnesota's young left winger who eliteprospects.com described as having a "slick skill-set with soft hands, good stickhandling and brilliant puck-control," before he made the NHL. They pretty much hit the nail on the head there, as Fiala displayed those slick, soft hands by flipping Bitetto's stick back to him perfectly on Sunday in what is easily the most ridiculous thing you'll see in an NHL game this season:
The move, which occurred early in the first period, helped the Wild gain possession of the puck, though nothing really came of it. Still an insane play nonetheless, and, as one Twitter user pointed out, one we can only remember seeing from one other, decent hockey player:
No, Kevin Fiala is not even on the same planet as Sidney Crosby, but just doing something similar to Sid the Kid is good company to be in. You could even argue Fiala's was better as the stick could not have flipped more perfectly into Bitetto's hands.