When NCAA regulations prevented a sports anchor in Duluth, Minnesota, from airing highlights of the UMD Bulldogs men's hockey team's Frozen Four game against the UMass Minutemen last week, he found a much better alternative.
Because the NCAA prohibits use of highlights of a game still in progress, Sam Ali of Fox 21 Sports turned to Microsoft Paint to illustrate three goals in a 2-1 game that was still being played at the time of his Thursday night broadcast.
Ali had a real eye for detail. He captured the emotions on each player’s face, with the beaming goalscorers and the goalies' frowning sad faces. His work really made you feel like you were right there, sitting front row at the rink.
In the first goal scene, the artist's impression of the puck looks more like a small turd placed conspicuously right behind the goalie, whose frown could also signal indigestion. The net looks like a rainbow-shaped igloo, and all of the players seem to have left their skates at home. It's the effort that matters, though. Ali paired his handiwork with a helping of local sports anchor enthusiasm: “Tanner Laderoute lights the lamp!” he shouted as the stick figures flashed on the screen. Ali’s rudimentary sketches spread across the internet and were far more entertaining than the game's actual highlights, making this a nice redemption story for a guy who last went viral for this extremely awkward on-air exchange.
Sadly, the Bulldogs didn’t play as good as they looked in Ali’s update, as they lost 3-2 in overtime to the Minutemen. UMass went on to win the national title Saturday, but the Bulldogs will always have this MS Paint collection, which is worthy of the Louvre.
