We all make mistakes in life, and hockey players are no different. Every once and awhile we all have a gaffe, mistake or just plain screw up. In some cases, these mistakes are referred to as "pizza's," or "za's" for short. Here's a quick definition:
Pizza
piz·za
[peet-suh]
verb
- The act of directly turning the puck over to the opposition in a situation that leads to a scoring opportunity and/or goal.
- Serving an opposing player the puck for a scoring chance the same way people are served pizza's.
So without further ado, here are the top 10 pizza's from the season that was.
10) Brian Elliott gives Cody McLeod an early Christmas gift
Goalies throw the worst pizza's. Why? Because they are the last line of defense and if they are giving up the puck, it often results in an easy goal. So here's Brian Elliott to start off at the :14 second mark. He did something between trying to make a play and just not thinking. How bad of a pizza was it? Cody McLeod scored. Cody McLeod!
9) Lecalvier scores the easiest goal of the year, courtesy Peter Budaj
8) Welcome to the NHL, Adam Larsson
Every player has their welcome to the league moment. Well chances are this wasn't Larsson's true "welcome to the NHL" play as it happened all the way in December, it was definitely a dose of reality. Instead of making the easy play and chipping it out as soon as the puck went on his stick, Larsson decided to make a play and got trapped. Well, he did end up making a play, just not for his own team. A pizza.
7) Jamie Benn goes tape to tape... to the other team
Jamie Benn is a hang of a player, and he actually made a heck of a back check in a game that was more or less already over. Then he made the mistake everyone dreads- he tried to hit the puck away from one opponent, but only ended up hitting it directly to Torrey Mitchell who emphasized the pizza by one-timing it home. A pizza is bad enough as it is, but when the player is able to one-time it for a goal too? Salt, meet wound.
6) Rundblad looks Buffalo straight in the eye... then gives them the puck
David Rundblad oozes talent. Something else he oozes? Pizza's. I don't know if it's worse when you blindly throw a pizza or when you literally stare at the guy and still give him the puck. David Rundblad did the latter here. The Sabres had so much time after the pizza to make a pretty little passing play because Ottawa's forwards were all moving up ice since Rundblad had time to, you know, single out any of them and make a proper outlet pass.
5) Seidenberg coughs one up
Start watching at 1:42 as Dennis Seidenberg eagerly plays a puck while his teammate Gregory Campbell tries reaching out for the puck. Is Seidenberg trying to pass that puck? Because it wasn't near any of his teammates. How about clearing the puck? Have to shoot it a lot harder than that if you want to get it out. Of course, he did neither. He threw a pizza right to Jay Harrison who then shot it home.
4) John Carlson doesn't see it coming (they rarely do)
John Carlson throws the poster perfect pizza right here. Goalie makes a save, Carlson winds up behind the net and comes out with some speed, thinks he has a strong outlet pass he can make cross ice, passes it but gets intercepted for a breakaway the other way and watches as Tyler Seguin scores a beauty. Carlson was clearly in the moment and thought he had something. Unfortunately for him, Seguin was in the moment too, and read him like a book.
3) Zdeno Chara gives Erik Cole a mini-breakaway
We've all been here before- we think there's enough space to make a pass cross ice and squeeze it by the opposing player, even though there isn't. It's hard to tell if he fanned on the pass or if in the process of making the pass he realized it was going nowhere and still screwed it up. Nonetheless, it's a pizza. To make matters worse it was late in the third period and tied the game.
2) Keith Yandle... Loses the handle
Yandle is a really good hockey player, but for some reason he is good for the occasional ridiculous giveaway and/or pizza. Against New York, he had a biggie. Sure he sort of fanned on the puck and it was a bit unlucky, but he's a high-end NHLer who had plenty of time and space to literally do anything. Then to make matters worse, not only did he serve up the "za," but he did so to the best goal scorer on the other team.
1) Erik Johnson serves up a juicy one to Michael Frolik
Start watching at the :16 second mark and get ready to click "repeat" as Erik Johnson throws THE pizza of the year. Michael Frolik didn't score a whole lot this season as he only potted five goals (one was even an empty netter). Even though this happened in October, maybe Erik Johnson sensed his bad year coming and decided he'd help out where he could? Who knows. All we know though is that Johnson served up an absolutely ridiculous pizza. He had time, he had other options and yet he threw it right up the middle and clearly had no idea Frolik was even there. He's in the company of some great players on this list and he's probably already forgotten this game, let alone that goal, but not in our minds. That's pizza of the year.
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