By now most Chicago Blackhawks fans have heard the story of Eric Semborski. If you haven’t, Corey Crawford needed an emergency appendectomy on December 3, 2016 while the team was set to play the Philadelphia Flyers that night. In need of a backup goaltender, they went to a list of local goalies and found Semborski.
He was a goalie for the Temple club hockey team who was coaching at the local rink. Next thing he knows, he’s taking warmups and sitting on the bench for the Chicago Blackhawks.
The team could not pay him because of restrictions so they gave him a jersey, hat and he was able to get some autographs. He was happy with all of that but then it got better.
Since then, he has received his own Topps hockey card and a trip to a game in Chicago, paid for by the Blackhawks. But that’s not all.
The organization wanted Semborski to have an official Blackhawks mask. They contacted David Gunnarsson, the artist of Scott Darling’s masks, and asked them to work together to create a piece.
The two agreed it should tell a story and it did. You can see below that the mask includes the date, Chicago as well as Philadelphia skylines and a Temple crest. For the Blackhawks it features the four feathers on each side.
The Blackhawks keep making Eric Semborski’s dream even better. They didn’t need to make any of these extra moves but they did. This is class.
