As a plot line, Josh Rieger's Saturday night adventure would belong in an Adam Sandler movie and not any serious hockey film.

Per the Grand Forks Herald, Rieger — a junior defenseman for North Dakota — was in Denver with the team for a series this weekend against the Pioneers, but he wasn't slated to be in the lineup for Saturday night's game.

So he did what a lot of us might do with a night off: Instead of taking the team bus to the arena, he headed to a local establishment with a teammate and started crushing some wings.

But then one of his teammates got sick and was scratched from the lineup. Rieger was the next man up, but he was nowhere to be found because he was busy polishing off a pound of wings.

Rieger arrived late for warmups, frantically put on his equipment, and then … he scored his first career goal in the first period — a tally that stood as the game-winner.

Read Michael Rand's blog at startribune.com/randball. michael.rand@startribune.com.