Winnipeg goalie’s dance shakes up Columbus Cottonmouths intermission

WATCH: Winnipeg native Andrew Loewen shakes it up in his pads with the Columbus Cottonmouths cheerleaders

WINNIPEG – Andrew Loewen can shake it in his goalie pads.

A video of the Winnipeg native dancing with the Columbus Cottonmouths cheerleaders has gone viral on YouTube.

In the video, Loewen joins the Georgia team’s cheerleaders to do a dance called “the Wobble” in full goalie gear with more enthusiasm than the women around him.

The video posted March 16, the day after the Southern Professional Hockey League game where it was recorded, racked up well over half a million views by Monday morning.

Loewen told the Morning News he’s surprised by the way the video has been received, but that’s the Internet.

“On YouTube, a cat jumping on the sofa might be the popular thing one day; today it’s a goalie in full equipment dancing the Wobble,” he said with a laugh.

Loewen is a Winnipeg native who played hockey at Vincent Massey Collegiate, then with the Neepawa Natives for two seasons, and won the MJHL championship with the Winnipeg South Blues to conclude the 2005-06 season.

Loewen does the second-intermission dance every time he’s the backup goalie, he said.

“The people in Columbus enjoy it when we do it, and that’s why I continue to do it,” he said.

In this case, there was a notable reason for his second-string status: Canadian Olympic gold-medal winning women’s goalie Shannon Szabados was making her professional debut with the Cottonmouths.

Szabados, the first woman to both sign and play in the SPHL, stopped 27 shots in her first game, but the Cottonmouths lost 4-3 to the Knoxville Ice Bears.

While Loewen has been the most frequent starter with the Cottonmouths for the past couple of years, the coach splits the games up between his first and second goalies fairly evenly, he said, giving him plenty of opportunity to perfect his dance moves.

“I’m revelling and enjoying every moment,” he said of his sudden YouTube fame.