The St. Louis Blues had a goalie vanish mid-game

It was an awful night for the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday. Not only did they concede seven goals to the Blackhawks, but they physically lost backup goaltender Joel Hofer — who wasn’t on the bench when his number was called.

Tight benches at the United Center are to blame, which forced Hofer to sit in a staging area behind the bench. He never heard coach Jim Montgomery call his name, leading to one of the funniest videos of the season.

The best part without question is Hofer peering out onto the ice, blissfully unaware of what is going on. It very much feels like he just doesn’t want to risk going out against a team that has scored seven goals, and would rather hang out in his hovel and watch TikToks on his phone.

Hofer never actually entered the game. It’s unclear if the Blues thought their backup goalie vanished, or perhaps they left him back in St. Louis like a hockey version of Home Alone. Either way, this is one of the funniest videos from the NHL season.