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Struggling goalie gets a little help from kind referee

A referee at a recent Montreal Canadiens game helped the goalie for the Timbits team playing during halftime make it to the net.

When a young goalie struggled to cross the ice to get to the net — it's hard to stay upright when you're wearing so much equipment — a referee came to his rescue. A very adorable rescue.

The Timbits — a hockey league funded by Tim Hortons for hockey players between the ages of 4 and 8 — were playing their scrimmage game during intermission at a Montreal Canadiens game on January 14.

"It was really cute and the fans loved it," the Canadiens' minor hockey coordinator Stephane Verret told TODAY.com.

Verret identified the referee as Richard Murray, the Canadiens' team manager of technical services, who filled in at the last minute when the scheduled ref didn't show up for the game.

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Reddit users empathized with the young goalie's skating struggles:

"When you're 8, your skill set is very imbalanced (pardon the pun) so it's really not a bad sign that a kid with all that equipment struggles to get across an NHL sized ice surface," one wrote.

"There's also the fact that the ice is in terrible condition after a full period of NHL hockey. I played during intermission of a Hurricanes game when I was around these guys ages, and it was way harder to skate than usual due to how carved and cut up the ice was," wrote another.

"Some of them will struggle a bit but they still have a great time," Verret said. "It's cute to see them play here in front of our fans."