Islanders Prospect Stephon Williams Joins Leggio Tradition, Knocks Net Off for Minnesota State

For the second time this season, a New York Islanders goalie property has said enough of all this and knocked his own net off in the middle of game play.

This time it was draft pick Stephon Williams, playing for Minnesota State in the semifinal of the North Star College Cup. Unlike David Leggio, who pulled his maneuver for the AHL Bridgeport Sound Tigers this season in order to better his odds on a 2-on-0, Williams did it for a fallen teammate.

With his team leading the Minnesota Gophers 4-2 in the late minutes, Williams' team was already shorthanded when a teammate was down and not getting up after blocking a shot. That created a rather threatening disadvantage.

SBN College Hockey has the full details:

Williams knocked the goal off intentionally because he was trying to draw attention to injured teammate Casey Nelson. The sophomore defenseman, who Hastings said was okay after the game, was on the ice for the previous 20 seconds after blocking a shot.

"I saw Casey down, and it was already a 6-on-4 penalty kill (as Gopher goaltender Adam Wilcox was pulled). With him down that makes it a 6-on-3," Williams said. "I was willing to take a delay of game to get fresh guys on the ice."

The end result was Minnesota choosing to take a penalty shot rather than the delay of game penalty per the rules of college hockey) with 1:13 remaining.

Here is the gif of the incident, which you'll recognize as a pretty impressive heave-ho if you understand the weight of those hockey goal frames.

Williams is a fourth-round pick (106th) by the Islanders in the 2013 NHL draft.

Just like Leggio, Williams stopped the ensuing penalty shot. Unlike Leggio's Sound Tigers, who lost 4-3 to Springfield in that November game, Williams' Mavericks were able to pull out the win.

Somewhere sitting among the hockey gods, Roger Nielsen is smiling.