Cops bewildered by brew burglar in goalie gear

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 24/08/2016 (2798 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Good goalies steal hockey games all the time. Cases of beer, on the other hand…

In what may be the most Canadian crime in recent memory, a man wearing “goalie pads, blocker and trapper and carrying a goalie stick” was evidently looking for post-game refreshments and broke into a Russell beer store early Monday.

“It was different,” RCMP Cpl. Brett Church said Thursday. “I’ve never seen that before. Very bizarre.”

The thief had help. An accomplice threw a rock through a glass door and went into at the vendor at about 2:40 a.m., and was followed inside by the nefarious netminder.

“He was wearing everything but a (goalie) mask,” Church said, adding the man had a tuque pulled down over his head.

Church described store security video as “quick and distorted.” He said the “goalie” was wearing a jersey under what appear to be overalls.

He added the man was holding the goalie stick “in his weak hand… like he’s walking in a goalie stance. He must be a goalie.”

The beer store, located at the junction of highways 83, 16 and 45, about 350 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg, is part of a complex adjacent to the Russell Inn that includes Tim Hortons and Subway restaurants and a gas station and convenience store.

Jean Betke, manager of the convenience store, told the Free Press the vendor was broken into the previous night. Early Sunday, a suspect threw a rock through the exit door, rushed in and grabbed two cases of beer.

Early Monday morning, the rock went through the entrance door — and the bandits made off with three cases.

“Budweiser,” Betke said.

Betke said she provided the RCMP with surveillance video without seeing it first. She learned it was a hockey-themed heist when she read the RCMP report published Tuesday in the Russell Banner.

“I just laughed out loud,” she said.

Both RCMP and Betke suspect the same main culprit — who was wearing a ball cap with his face covered — was involved in both smash-and-grabs.

The story spread Wednesday night on Twitter. Olympic gold medallist Jon Montgomery, a Russell native, retweeted a photo of the Banner police report, adding: “This makes me even prouder to be from Russell MB! Don’t get me wrong, hope they two-pad stack the Foo… But still…”

Montgomery, who hosts CTV’s The Amazing Race Canada, famously walked through the Olympic Village holding a pitcher of beer after capturing gold in the men’s skeleton at the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver.

Church said the RCMP plan to release the video on Facebook by today. They are also trying to blow up the images to determine what type of jersey the goaltender was wearing.

randy.turner@freepress.mb.ca

This makes me even prouder to be from Russell MB!
Don't get me wrong, hope they two-pad-stack the Foo...But still... https://t.co/8up2Eslj0D

— Jon Montgomery (@jonmonty) August 25, 2016