Keith Tkachuk refuses to throw hat on the ice after son Matthew scores a hat trick on Wednesday
Keith Tkachuk played in 1,201 career NHL games, scoring 538 goals over that span. He enjoyed a pretty remarkable career, but now, at 50 years old, Tkachuk has shifted from the ice to the stands, watching his sons Matthew and Brody follow in his footsteps.
On Wednesday night in Calgary, Keith was present at the Saddledome to take in Game 1 between the Flames and Oilers and boy, oh boy was it a wild one. The Flames choked away a 4-goal lead, allowing the Oilers to tie the game at 6-6 early in the 3rd period. Thankfully, the Flames managed to salvage this one thanks to a Matthew Tkachuk hat trick, putting the game away, winning 9-6.
As we all know, when a player from the home team scores a hat trick, it's customary for fans in the stands to whip their hats out onto the ice in a mass showing of gratitude for an outstanding individual performance. And while a lot of hats came raining down onto the ice, Keith Tkachuk had no interest in losing his hat on Wednesday. Here's how Keith reacted when being berated for not celebrating his own son's hat trick goal and contributing to the tradition.
Maybe the hat had some sort of special significance to Keith, who knows? It's a funny clip nevertheless. The act may lead to some funny chirps against Tkachuk throughout the remainder of this series though. I can imagine some of the Oilers' more talkative players saying something like "your own dad hates you" or "your own dad wouldn't even celebrate your hat trick".
