Miracle shot hockey dad: Honesty still way to go

The father who put a $50,000 prize in jeopardy by being truthful about the hockey "shot seen round the world" taken by one of his 11-year-old twin sons says honesty is still the best policy.

On Thursday night, Nick Smith's name was drawn in a raffle, entitling him to try to shoot a puck 89-feet into a three-inch-wide area. If he could, he'd win $50,000.

But when the time came for the Owatonna, Minn. boy to take the shot, he was outside the rink building, so his brother, Nate Smith, gave it a try.

And made it.

"A one in a million chance," Nate said at the time.

But because it was Nick, not Nate, whose name was on the raffle ticket, Pat called the event's organizers the next day and told the truth.

Now, the insurance company that guaranteed the prize is deciding whether to give the Smiths the $50,000.

The video and story made the Internet rounds and, Pat told "Early Show" co-anchor Erica Hill Wednesday, "It's been kind of wild. I feel like I need a personal assistant!"

Turns out, Nate had gotten a cast off not long before making the shot.

"I had played in a hockey tournament with my cast on," he told Hill, "so I kind of had the feel, and I've been playing shoot hockey with it off."

Nate says it took a little while to realize $50,000 came with his shot.

"When I got on the bench," he said, "everybody's saying, 'Do you know what you won? I'm like, 'Yeah."'

Nick told Hill, "I came in, and my friend was like ... 'Your brother just won $50,000.' I'm like, 'Yeah, right.' I looked over and Nathan was standing on the ice, and me and my friend ran over to the bench."

But, Pat says, "The next day, we were getting a lot of phone calls and the boys, we could tell, weren't feeling right about it. So I thought I'd better call over there, and tell them it was Nathan who made the shot.

"There was kind of silence on the phone, and then the event organizer said, 'Well, I'll pass that information on to the insurance company, and we'll have to see what they say."'

So far, now word.

But Pat says, "I think the more important lesson is that you tell the truth and, no matter how much money is involved, it's always more important to tell the truth."