I’m a little late to the party on this one, but I still can’t resist.

Remember a few years back when hockey purists were appalled when Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin dropped his hockey stick like it was hot and danced around it to celebrate scoring his 50th goal of the season? Mr. Ovechkin, meet Adrian Alvar Stein, a forward for Norway’s second-division Narvick Arctic Eagles.

After his team defeated Norway’s Viking Hockey earlier this month, Alvar Stein felt the need to bust a move – or two, or three.  Norway may not be an international hockey power – though it’s in the running to host the 2022 Winter Olympics – but it sure is funky!

Alvar Stein’s dance was light-hearted but according to the Artic Eagles’ web site – with a rough translation via Google – how he wound up in Norway is a compelling story.

He’s 22 years old and was born in Swaziland, a landlocked country in southern Africa. He was abandoned on a church staircase moments after his birth, his umbilical cord still intact. He was adopted by a Norwegian family and moved to the Scandinavian country.

In 171 career games in Norway’s second division, Alvar Stein scored 43 goals and 63 assists. He collected 150 penalty minutes and had a plus/minus of -16.

As for his dancing, a story on the team’s web site said “Adrian danced in front of 1,000 crazy crowd as he usually does (in) the living room and locker room in front of teammates.”

Would Alvar Stein do his celebratory dance in the National Hockey League? I think not. But that’s not to say NHLers haven’t put on their boogie shoes – or skates – and done a little shake. Let’s moonwalk down memory lane and look at some of the league’s challengers to Fred Astaire, Patrick Swayze and John Travolta.

Disco’s long been dead, but not to the guy running the Los Angeles Kings public address system or then-King Jeremy Roenick. Nobody put JR in the corner.

Call this “The Ovechkin Games: Stick Catching Fire”:

Why should forwards have all the fun? Goalies like to groove:

Even old-school-era players liked to get down:

The older generation passed their Golden Slippers to the New Kids on the Block:

Hockey players are never too young to boogie: