Believe it or not, Justin Bieber is actually a pretty skilled hockey player.
The Biebs says he laces up the skates every chance he gets, and he’s displayed his talents in the past by posting videos of impressive plays to social media accounts.
But there’s a difference between schooling your friends in a pick-up game and actually taking the ice against guys who play for a living – a lesson Justin learned the hard way during this week’s NHL All-Star Celebrity Shootout:
That’s 6’6″ 220-pound former NHL defenseman Chris Pronger clearly enjoying the hell out of laying out a brutal body check on Bieber.
As you can see, Justin didn’t find the experience quite as enjoyable.
“I was giving him a little back massage in the corner,” Pronger said of the hit, which has been celebrated far and wide on social media.
Pronger actually went pretty light on Bieber, but the singer clearly didn’t appreciate the punishment.
Not surprisingly, the epic photo has made Pronger something of an Internet folk hero.
Pronger successfully pinned one of the celebrity world’s most notorious douche nozzles to the boards, even the head of the NHL’s Department of Player Safety got in on the act with a joke tweet that many believed to be legit:
“The Department of Player Safety will have a hearing tomorrow morning with Chris Pronger for his Check from Behind on @justinbieber,” Damian Echevarrietta tweeted.
Fortunately, he was kidding, and there’s no chance of Pronger being disciplined for his heroic deed.
To make the story even better, there’s an inspirational element to Bieber having his face smushed into the glass for our entertainment.
Pronger hasn’t played since 2011 due to severe post-concussion syndrome.
Though he’s not officially retired, he’s not expected to return to hockey.
The 42-year-old former MVP has said in in interviews that there was a time when he was unable to skate, and that he believed he would never be able to play hockey with his kids.
So for many fans, just seeing the man back on the ice was a treat.
The fact that he flattened Bieber was just the icing on the cake.
The sweet, sweet icing on the cake…
