Astronaut Chris Hadfield is the first Canadian to do just about everything in space, from walking in space to commanding a space station, to tweeting from space.
Now, he's also the first to participate in a ceremonial faceoff from space. On Monday night, the Sarnia, Ontario native, a proud Toronto Maple Leafs fan, beamed in live from the International Space Station for the Leafs' home opener Monday night to propel the puck to center ice.
Propel is the right word, as Hadfield first went with the delightfully hammy and not-at-all unexpected joke of letting go of the puck, only to have it hang in mid-air due to the lack of gravity in his current digs. I knew that was coming. I still got a kick out of it. Then he tossed it down.
This is where the scientific accuracy came to an abrupt stop. You don't fool anyone, Felix Potvin. If that puck had survived a fiery plummet into the earth's atmosphere, you wouldn't be casually passing it to the next guy.
Frankly, there was no need to pass it from Potvin to Darcy Tucker to Darryl Sittler at all. Considering the speed and velocity at which that puck would have been traveling, Hadfield could have put it right through the roof of the Air Canada Centre.
Again, just in case it isn't clear how cool this is: Chris Hadfield dropped the puck from space, which is the Canadian equivalent of planting a flag on the moon. According to IIHF rules, all outer extraterrestrial beings are now eligible to play for Canada in international tournaments.
Follow Harrison Mooney on Twitter at @HarrisonMooney
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