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Earlier this week, the Penn State Daily Collegian did a feature story on Penn State hockey's newest cult figure Matt Johnson, aka 'Shovel Guy'. As the name suggests, he's the guy that shovels snow off the ice in front of the Penn State student section during media timeouts, and has gained a bit of celebrity among Penn State students.
Thursday night was supposed to be Shovel Guy's big night. The sold out Roar Zone, Penn State's student section, was decked out in all white for the game and was eagerly anticipating his first appearance. The first media timeout came and all eyes were on Shovel Guy to do his thing. But Michigan goalie Steve Racine was having none of that.
'Shovel Guy' tries to do his job. Michigan goaltender Steve Racine has other plans. pic.twitter.com/IZ1WV67RBz
— Mark Fischer (@nhlfisch21) January 29, 2016
The Penn State students were not pleased.
A "We hate Steve" chant comes down from the student section as the Michigan goaltender turns away 'Shovel Guy'. Video coming.
— Mark Fischer (@nhlfisch21) January 29, 2016
Racine did eventually relent and let Shovel Guy do his thing at the next media timeout, but the damage had already been done. You mess with the Hockey Gods like that and the Hockey Gods are bound to bite you back. Later in the first period, this happened to Racine(wait for it). Oops.
Michigan did eventually go on to win the game 7-4--Racine had some Hockey Gods on his side too in the form of Kyle Connor and Tyler Motte--but hopefully Racine learned a valuable lesson about disrespecting Shovel Guy.