Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images
Most hockey players would break out into a celebration after scoring the goal that gave their team a win in overtime. However, AHL forward Andrew Agozzino is not like most hockey players based on his decision to track down an opponent after doing exactly that.
The AHL is filled with talented hockey players who tend to have a chip on their shoulder while doing everything they can to get the attention of the people who have the power to call them up to the NHL.
That includes Andrew Agozzino, the 34-year-old left winger who’s appeared in 51 NHL games between the Avalanche, Penguins, Ducks, Senators, and Sharks but has spent the bulk of his career grinding as a member of the ten different AHL teams he’s played for over the past 15 years.
Agozzino is currently playing for the Tucson Roadrunners and serving as an alternate captain while hoping to get a shot with Utah Hockey Club, the parent team he signed a two-year, two-way contract with ahead of the start of the current season.
The forward has played 36 games for the Roadrunners this year (he missed 15 with an injury) and tallied a respectable 28 points with the 13 goals and 15 assists he’s posted so far. That included a game-winner in overtime against the Abbotsford Canucks that transpired toward the end of February but recently started making the rounds on social media thanks to what unfolded after it.
The two teams headed into overtime with three goals apiece before the Canucks botched a two-on-one opportunity that gave Agozzino the breakaway he took full advantage of before beating Nikita Tolopilo with a backhander to cap off the 4-3 victory in his second game back from injury.
Things subsequently took a fairly strange turn, as the hero of the night eschewed a celebration by immediately setting his sights on Linus Karlsson, the Abbotsford center who he knocked down onto the ice before fellow Canucks center Max Sasson swooped in to officially kick off a scuffle behind the net (the chaotic scene was captured from another angle by someone sitting near the glass).
It’s unclear what sparked the melee in the first place, and it seems unlikely the two men will get another chance to sort out their differences this season unless they end up meeting in the playoffs when you consider the two teams aren’t slated to play each other again in the regular season.