Referee Chris Rooney gives awkward welcome speech before dropping puck

Tuesday saw the NHL kick off the North American porof its 2022-23 season with intriguing opening night games in New York and Los Angeles.

One referee, Chris Rooney, marked the occasion (was forced to do so?) with a little bit of an extra unnecessary something before the start of the Tampa Bay Lightning-New York Rangers matchup.

Before Rooney dropped the puck, he delivered a welcome speech. Actually, saying it was just a “speech” would be underselling the stunt. Rooney delivered a stilted welcome speech that felt as if he was reading directly off a teleprompter script without changing much of his tone or enunciation.

It was as awkward and unnecessary as it sounds:

“What’s better than this?” he said with no change to voice whatsoever.

Honestly, Rooney is delivering less of a “speech” and more of a “press release” that he may or may not have practiced much, too.

Why Rooney or the NHL powers that be felt this had to be included, I don’t know. What I do know is that it was positively hilarious for the sheer awkwardness alone — especially as the surrounding Rangers and Lightning players stared on in silence, waiting for him to finish.