NHL playoffs 2015: Weise's street hockey dreams come to life... again
Weise buried OT winner in Game 3 against Sens
When Dale Weise was a kid he says he often played street hockey and imagined himself scoring a goal like the one he netted against the Senators Sunday night.
"Scoring the OT winner in the Stanley Cup playoffs to win the game, I've replayed that moment a couple of times in my street for sure," Weise said.
Weise not only scored the goal to win game three, he also scored the goal to in the third period to tie the game and force overtime.
"I didn't really see it go in at first, and then I saw the reaction. It felt pretty good," Weise said about the overtime winning goal.
Dale Weise is labelled as depth player for the Montreal Canadiens. He only scored 10 goals in 79 games this season and often plays on the team's fourth line. So it may seem as if he is an unlikely hero.
But he's been here before, Weise scored an OT winner in the playoffs last season in round one against Tampa Bay and before that he earned high praise and the nick name 'Dutch Gretzky' after scoring 22 goals in only 19 games while playing in the Netherlands.
Perhaps it shouldn't be a surprise when he seized the moment Sunday night.
"That's what wins you hockey games in the playoffs," says Habs defenceman P.K. Subban
"We often talk about the so called star players on the team stepping up and making a difference but if you look at all the Stanley Cup champion teams over the last couple of years they've all got guys from the 3rd and 4th line that contributed at some point."
Weise's contribution in game 3 has Montreal only one win away from advancing to the second round of the NHL playoffs. But it also might mean there is a kid out there wearing his jersey and scoring an imagined OT winner in a street hockey game.
"That'd be nice, I know my son's got (my jersey) on at home so that feels nice," Weise said.