Beauty Play of the Week : Shai Buium’s First Goal of the 2025-26 Season

Photo Credit: Grand Rapids Griffins/Nicolas Carrillo

The Graced By Rain “Beauty Play of the Week” for February 11 - 17, 2026 has been awarded to Shai Buium’s first goal of the 2025-26 season.

Buium’s first goal of the season was scored towards the end of the second period of the Grand Rapids Griffins shutout win over the Texas Stars, 5-0.

The beauty of this play stems from Buium sticking to Antonio Stranges like glue in Grand Rapids defensive zone. From the moment Stranges entered the zone, Buium applied an abundance of pressure, forcing Stranges to skate alongside the boards instead of towards a shooting lane. Once they hit the blue line again, Buium was able to get his stick on the puck and create a turnover in favor of Grand Rapids.

Obviously, Buium forcing a turnover and score is beautiful in itself. However, the speed of Ondrej Becher was beautiful to watch, and watching him perfectly place a pass to Buium before it found the back of the net was the cherry on top of the goal.

Another part of what makes Buium's goal so beautiful is his perseverance on the rocky path it took to get him to this point in the season.

Due to an injury sustained in a Detroit Red Wings preseason game, Buium didn’t start the season until after the first of the year. In fact, his first game of the season was January 9, 2026, when Texas was last in town. At the beginning of his return, Buium struggled to find his footing. Luckily, the Griffins fielded a lineup of 11 forwards and seven defensemen during a big chunk of January and February, allowing Buium to have a smoother transition filled with longer periods of rest during the game. As time ticked on, Buium's game got stronger, eventually culminating in a goal.