Carolina Hurricanes put Petr Mrazek body outline on ice at practice after goalie was punched by Joe Thornton
The Carolina Hurricanes are a fun bunch.
After all, last season, they turned a wild, fan-friendly postgame celebration called the Storm Surge into their first playoff appearance since 2009 and embraced the "Bunch of Jerks" label given to them by then-Hockey Night in Canada analyst Don Cherry.
Thursday night, there was an interesting exchange between San Jose center Joe Thornton and Petr Mrazek, in which the Hurricanes goalie dropped like a shot after one punch from the Sharks star. Mrazek got up after the ensuing scrum, stayed in the game and won 3-2 in a shootout.
So how did the Hurricanes respond Friday at their Raleigh Center Ice practice facility?
With the equivalent of a chalk outline — nice.
Here's the on-ice exchange. It began when Thornton poked at a puck that was covered by Mrazek's glove and the goalie swung his stick at Thornton but missed. When he turned to confront the center, he was felled by a punch to the mask.
Mrazek told reporters that the punch helped motivate him.
"You feel like you're in the game and you want to make saves for the guys and get the win," he said.
No word on how he reacted to Friday's prank.