What Really Happened

This handsome fellow is Andrei Gavrilov. You may not know him or his stats thanks to him playing in the KHL, but you've certainly seen the video of him in action today. The 29 year-old plays for Salavat Yulaev Ufa after signing a one-year deal earlier this summer, and he's hoping to claim Ufa's blue paint for the foreseeable future with some strong play. However, he probably won't include his play against Dynamo Moscow on his personal highlight reel after he casually took a break mid-play for a water break. Sports highlight shows seemed to have his water break on cue all day.

Here it is, once more, for those that may have missed it.

He may have been just a wee bit too casual with Moscow closing in on him on a 2-on-1. Gavrilov may have even caused the Dynamo Moscow's Maxim Karpov to fumble the puck sent across to him through his rather non-reactionary goaltending pose! In any case, there had to be a better reason for Gavrilov's impromptu water break than "I'm thirsty", right?

Well, there is. Seconds before this clip went viral, Maxim Mayorov had actually scored on Dynamo's Alexander Yeryomenko, but the referee didn't stop the play and Moscow grabbed the puck and went down the ice. This is where most of the sports highlight shows picked up the feed as Gavrilov appears to have believed that Ufa scored. He goes about preparing himself for play to resume at center ice with some water, only to realize that Dynamo Moscow had raced back down the ice for a scoring chance!

As you can see, though, Mayorov was credited with the second Ufa goal which, coincidentally, was the game-winner in a 2-1 Ufa victory over Dynamo Moscow.

Sometimes, a great story isn't really that great when full context is given. Mayorov's goal should have stood when he scored it and the referee should have blown the play dead. However, humans are falliable and he made a mistake. It happens. To have Gavrilov's casual water break recorded as some amazing piece of history is neither truthful nor correct. He simply assumed that the referee made the call and went about his business 200-feet away.

That's the story, and I'm sticking to it, folks.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!