Texans defensive end J.J. Watt can skate. On ice. And he can handle a puck with a hockey stick. And he can muster a decent slap shot. And he can beat a goalie with it.
Especially when the goalie isn’t actually protecting the goal.
Via Dave Heller of FOX Sports Wisconsin, Watt showed up at a charity hockey event in Madison, Wisconsin. And he laced up his skates, grabbed a stick, took to the ice, kicked a puck forward, moved it into position, stopped, aimed, and fired.
The puck went into the goal, which otherwise was being tended by former University of Wisconsin and NHL goalie Brian Elliott. But it appears that Elliott lunged to the left of the goal after Watt shot the puck, making no real effort to actually stop the shot.
Despite the fact that the last part of the play looked like it was a gift, Watt pulled off the hard part -- the skating, the stick handling, the shooting. Which makes sense, given that he played hockey in high school.
Which makes it tempting to wonder how Watt would have fared if he had fully developed his game. It’s possible that NHL goalies would have been diving out of the way not to make Watt look good, but to keep themselves alive.