Brock Boeser set a new career-high in goals on Wednesday night when he torched the Edmonton Oilers for four goals in the Vancouver Canucks' season opener.
But if he had scored one more goal, he would have made someone one million dollars richer.
The Score and Win promotion has been running in several Canadian hockey markets for years. Originally sponsored by Safeway and now by Save-On-Foods, the promotion promises to pay out $1 million — specifically as a $50,000 annuity for 20 years — if a player scores five goals in a game for the Canucks, Oilers, Calgary Flames, or Winnipeg Jets.
Despite some high-end snipers like Pavel Bure and Markus Näslund in their history, the Canucks have never had a player score five goals in a game. It's a feat that has only been accomplished 63 times in NHL history and just 37 times since the Canucks joined the NHL in 1970.
That means that Save-On-Foods are unlikely to have to pay out the $1 million grand prize any time soon.
But some fans wondered if the Score and Win promotion applied to Wednesday's game. Since the game was a national broadcast, it did not have the typical sponsored Score and Win segments that announced the potential winner of the $1 million, as well as prize winners after every goal. Those sponsored segments only occur on regional broadcasts.
That has led some fans to believe that the promotion only applies if a player scores five goals during a regional broadcast sponsored by Save-On-Foods. But that isn't the case.
According to the rules and regulations listed on the Score and Win website, the promotion runs through the entire regular season and playoffs — it does not matter whether the game is a regional or national broadcast, or even if it's broadcast at all. Rule 4.1 has the details:
"Should any Vancouver Canucks’, Calgary Flames’, Edmonton Oilers’ or Winnipeg Jets’ player score five (5) goals in one (1) game (excluding goals scored during a shootout) during the 2023-2024 NHL regular season or playoffs (as recorded by the NHL official game scorer), one contestant, through a Regionalized Random Draw of all entries received (as hereafter defined), will qualify to win an annuity paying $50,000 per year for 20 years."
It goes on to say that if the original winner cannot be contacted within ten business days, another name will be drawn to ensure that someone wins the $1 million prize.
There has been just one winner of the Score and Win promotion and it notably came in a game that was nationally televised on Hockey Night in Canada. Patrik Laine scored five goals in a game for the Winnipeg Jets against the St. Louis Blues, winning Winnipeg pastor Christopher Haley the $1 million prize from then-sponsor Safeway.
With his four-goal game, Boeser did earn someone a $100,000 prize through the promotion. A media advisory from Save-On-Foods announced the winner was Frances McAuley from Burnaby, B.C. According to the press release, the 77-year-old retired elementary school administrative assistant is the first person from B.C. to win the $100,000 prize and she intends to donate a portion of the prize to a children's hospital.
According to Postmedia's Patrick Johnston, Boeser lamented that he couldn't reach the five-goal mark, saying, "Oh man, it was right there!" The winger had eight shots on goal in the game.
