Sports

NHL Goalie Manny Legace Injured After Slipping on Red Carpet Put Out For Sarah Palin

by Jon Azpiri | October 26, 2008 at 02:54 pm

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Vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin made her second appearance at an NHL game Friday night as she dropped the puck prior to the St. Louis Blues' tilt against the Los Angeles Kings. By all accounts she was more well-received than Palin's appearance at a Philadelphia Flyers game earlier this month.

While Blues fans gave the self-professed "hockey mom" a relatively warm reception, they may not have been too happy when they learned that Blues starting goaltender Manny Legace injured his hip flexor by slipping on the red carpet put out for Palin as she walked out on the ice for the ceremonial opening faceoff. Legace sat out the second and third periods of the Blues 4-0 loss to the Kings.

"I went to go step on the ice and the (security guard) says, 'Watch the carpet,'" Legace said. "He had his foot there holding it, so I figured it would be safe to step on it if he's holding it and the other end is secure.

"As soon as I went to step down, he took his foot off the carpet, and the carpet just shot out and my leg kept going, and my other one was still on the bench. I felt the pull right away.

Legace isn't expected to miss too many games, although he did sit out the Blues' game against the Florida Panthers Saturday night.

Both teams that have hosted the Alaska governor have had their fair share of bad luck. The Blues lost their starting goalie while the Philadelphia Flyers lost the game where they hosted Palin and went on to lose five consecutive games.