Tuesday saw the NHL kick off the 2022-2023 season with intriguing Opening Night games in New York and Los Angeles. One referee, Chris Rooney, decided to (or was forced?) mark the occasion with a little bit of an extra unnecessary something before the start of the Rangers (-1.5) and Lightning’s matchup.
Before Rooney dropped the puck to let New York and Tampa Bay get officially rolling, he delivered a welcome speech. Actually, saying it was just a “speech” would be underselling the stunt. Rooney delivered a stilted welcome speech that felt as if he was reading directly off a teleprompter script without changing much of his tone or enunciation.
Regardless of any Opening Night festivities, it was as awkward and unnecessary as it sounds:
I can't stop laughing this was so unnecessary pic.twitter.com/EkXmJtvfuD
— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) October 11, 2022
“What’s better than this?” he said with no change to voice whatsoever.
Honestly, Rooney is delivering less of a “speech” and more of a “press release” that he may or may not have practiced much, too.
Why Rooney or the NHL powers that be felt this had to be included, I don’t know. What I do know is that it was positively hilarious for the sheer awkwardness alone — especially as the surrounding Rangers and Lightning players stared on in silence, waiting for him to finish.
NHL fans thought Rooney's awkward pre-game speech was hilarious
Just think of how much time Chris Rooney spent rehearsing that.
— Arpon Basu (@ArponBasu) October 11, 2022
Chris Rooney better get that ESPN hat after that
— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) October 12, 2022
I can’t believe they just made Chris Rooney do that
— nick cahill (@cahill29) October 11, 2022
NHL ref Chris Rooney’s welcome to fans, players and all to the start of the season went about as well as can be expected.
— Gunnar Esiason (@G17Esiason) October 11, 2022
Chris Rooney has been waiting for that moment his whole life
— Scott McLaughlin (@smclaughlin9) October 11, 2022
oh my god this is so funny https://t.co/iGbMXuMzC6
— jenna (@simpjd74) October 12, 2022
If Nathan Fielder was a ref https://t.co/J5aJALi6HK
— hrudeys on duty (@imalexcave) October 12, 2022
“whats 😐 better 😐 then 😐 this 😐” https://t.co/AFuUWHPMyd
— linds 🍂 (@urfavlindsey) October 12, 2022
