List of National Hockey League mascots
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This is a list of current and former National Hockey League mascots, sorted alphabetically.
[edit] Current Mascots
[edit] Al the Octopus
Al the Octopus is the eight legged mascot the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League.[1] In 1952, when east side fish merchants Pete and Jerry Cusimano threw a real octopus onto the Olympia arena ice, the eight legs representing the eight victories needed to secure a Stanley Cup in those six-team days. Since then, fans throw octopi onto the ice for good luck. In one game in the 1995 Playoffs, fans threw forty-five onto the ice.[citation needed] Arena Manager and Zamboni driver Al Sobotka ceremoniously scoops them up, and play continues.
Now a large purple prop octopus (Al), named after ice manager Al Sobotka, is positioned in Joe Louis Arena for the duration of the playoffs.
[edit] Bailey
Bailey, the mascot of the Los Angeles Kings is a 6 foot lion who wears No. 72 because of the warm weather in Los Angeles. He was named in honor of the late Garnet “Ace” Bailey who served as the Los Angeles Kings' Director of Pro Scouting for seven years before dying in the September 11th terrorist attacks. Bailey is the Kings' second mascot, the first was a snow leopard named Kingston in 1994.
[edit] Blades the Bruin
Blades the Bruin serves as the team mascot for the National Hockey League's Boston Bruins.
[edit] Carlton the Bear
Carlton the Bear is a 6'4" anthropomorphic polar bear, and the official mascot of the Toronto Maple Leafs NHL team. His first public appearance was on October 10, 1995 at the Leafs home-opener in Toronto against the New York Islanders. He wears Toronto Maple Leafs jersey number 60. His biggest rival is the Ottawa Senators mascot Spartacat.
Carlton is named for Toronto's Carlton Street, the location of Maple Leaf Gardens, the Leafs home arena from 1931 to 1999. They have since moved to the Air Canada Centre on Bay Street. Since his debut, Carlton has gained fame through appearances at Leafs home games. He has also occasionally travelled with the team, having made appearances at 20 different arenas in 17 cities over his career. To date, Carlton has tossed more than 8,000 shirts into the audience, led various cheers, and spread Maple Leaf spirit to thousands of fans. Carlton is also credited with chairing the first annual Mascot Summit in 2000, which took place at the 50th National Hockey League All-Star Game in Toronto.
[edit] Fin the Whale
Fin the Whale is the mascot of the Vancouver Canucks hockey team. He is an anthropomorphic killer whale.
[edit] Gnash
Gnash is the mascot for the National Hockey League's Nashville Predators.[2] The name of the blue saber-tooth tiger is a pun on the first syllable of the city's name.
The character was introduced in 1998, and he quickly set new standards in the NHL for entertainment. His trademark is incredible stunts: very fast rappels, zip lines and a pendulum swing that takes him under the scoreboard and just inches off the ice. Gnash is also a dancer and shows off his wild moves during intermissions and time-outs.
[edit] Harvey the Hound
Harvey the Hound is the mascot of the Calgary Flames. Created in 1983, Harvey was the NHL's first mascot.
Harvey was once involved in an incident with Edmonton Oilers Coach Craig MacTavish when MacTavish ripped out Harvey's tongue. Harvey the Hound was voted best Mascot in 2004, 3rd in 2005 and 6th in 2006. Harvey is in first place for 2007 right now, Buffalo Sabres mascot Sabretooth is in 2nd, New York Islanders Mascot Sparky the Dragon is in 3rd. Harvey also had a long-standing feud with broadcaster Gary Green.
[edit] Howler the Coyote
Howler the Coyote is the mascot of the Phoenix Coyotes. He was introduced on October 15, 2005.
[edit] Iceburgh
Iceburgh is the official mascot of the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League.
[3]The name Iceburgh is a play on the word 'iceberg' and the name of the city of Pittsburgh. Iceburgh's costume was worn by one of the villains in the 1995 movie "Sudden Death" starring Jean-Claude Van Damme. He usually wears a Penguins jersey with the number "00". The costume is identical to that of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins' team mascot, "Tux."
[edit] Louie
Louie is the current mascot of the St. Louis Blues. He was introduced on October 10, 2007 and on November 3, 2007, the fans voted on his name on the Blues website.[4] He is a blue bear that wore a tuxedo before he had a name. Now, he wears a Blues jersey with "Louie" on the back of it. He is usually on the ice between intermissions helping out with various games, and sometimes in the crowd during games, mingling with the fans.
[edit] N.J. Devil
N.J. Devil is the mascot of the New Jersey Devils hockey team. He first appeared in 1993 and was spotted in the rafters of the Continental Airlines Arena throwing peanut shells down onto the crowd. The 7' tall mascot plays into the myth of the Jersey Devil. N.J. Devil keeps the crowd excited, signs autographs, participates in entertainment during the intermissions, skates across the ice, and runs throughout the aisles of the arena to high five fans.
[edit] Sabretooth
Sabretooth is the mascot of the Buffalo Sabres, an NHL ice hockey team. [5]. He resembles Snagglepuss. From 1992 to 1998, he was also the mascot of the Buffalo Bandits indoor lacrosse team. He has a house in HSBC Arena. Before games, he rappels from the ceiling to the ice while rock music plays, and has also been known to ride a four-wheeler on the ice while followed by a spotlight. He has a t-shirt bazooka, which he uses to shoot shirts into the crowd, and plays Sabres chants on a drum. Sabretooth recently received a new blue-and-gold color scheme to match the Sabres' new logo. Currently, Sabretooth wears the new logo jersey and has blue stripes. Sabretooth's autograph can be obtained on the mezzanine level of HSBC Arena within his custom built playhouse. Former Sabre, and NHL Hall-of-Famer Tim Horton originally came up with the idea for Sabretooth in 1974 with the design being carried out several years later.[citation needed]
[edit] Sparky the Dragon
Sparky the Dragon is the mascot for two different teams, the New York Dragons Arena Football team and as the mascot for the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League. What makes him unique is the fact he wears two sets of colors, depending on the team he roots for. For Islanders games, he wears navy blue and orange. His tail for the Islanders has the shape of a hockey stick. For Dragons contests, he wears pink, red, and black. The fact that both teams are owned by computer magnate Charles Wang add into this. Sparky's web siteHe has been around for a long time. Sparky was also voted the best Mascot of 2005, he came in 2nd place in 2006. He lost to Buffalo Sabres Mascot Sabretooth.
[edit] S.J. Sharkie
S.J. Sharkie, an anthropomorphic shark, is the mascot of the San Jose Sharks, a team in the National Hockey League. He debuted in January 1992. His "brother" was SlapShark of the Cleveland Barons.
He was also one of the first professional mascots to have his own website, SJSharkie.com. [6]
[edit] Slapshot
Slapshot is the anthropomorphic bald eagle mascot of the National Hockey League's Washington Capitals. One of his best friends is the Muppet, Sam the Eagle. He also enjoys the song, Fly Like an Eagle.
[edit] Spartacat
Spartacat is an anthropomorphic lion and the official mascot of the NHL ice-hockey team, the Ottawa Senators. He is also known to be quite an acrobat as he has been seen swinging through the Scotiabank Place arena to get the crowd pumped up before games.An immediately recognizable part of Ottawan society, Spartacat does his part as an active member of the community by visiting hospitals, schools, and children's hockey games. He has been involved in the "Read to Succeed" literacy drive that has been initiated by the Ottawa Senators to educate children on the importance of reading and participates by visiting schools in the Ottawa area to draw the attention of children to the literacy message.
Spartacat has a fierce rivalry with Carlton the Bear, the official mascot of the NHL ice-hockey team, the Toronto Maple Leafs.
[edit] Stanley C. Panther
Stanley C. Panther is the mascot of the Florida Panthers. He is named for the Stanley Cup. At the beginning of the 2007-08 season, the Panthers added another mascot that is half the size of Stanley, hence the name "Mini Stanley". Due to Mini Stanley's smaller size, he is a mascot that caters more to children.[citation needed]
[edit] Stinger
Stinger is the hornet mascot of the National Hockey League's Columbus Blue Jackets .
[edit] Stormy
Stormy is the mascot of the Carolina Hurricanes hockey team. He is an anthropomorphic pig, who wears the number 97 (Shortened for 1997- the year when the Hartford Whalers moved to Carolina to play their first game.) The reason for a pig mascot is because of the abundance of pigs in NC.
[edit] Thrash
Thrash is the mascot of the National Hockey League's Atlanta Thrashers. [7] He is an anthropomorphic Brown Thrasher, the state bird of Georgia.
[edit] Thunderbug
Thunderbug is the mascot of the Tampa Bay Lightning of the National Hockey League. [8]
[edit] Tommyhawk
Tommyhawk is the mascot for the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League. He is a hawk who wears the Blackhawks famed 4 feathers on his head, along with a Blackhawks jersey and hockey pants.
[edit] Wildwing
Wildwing is the mascot the Anaheim Ducks of the National Hockey League. He is an anthropomorphic duck similar to characters in the animated series Mighty Ducks. The mascot is likely the only one in sports ever to be immortalized as a statue, with one located outside the Honda Center arena where the Ducks call home.
[edit] Youppi
Youppi (Yippee! or Hooray! in French) is the official mascot for the Montreal Canadiens. From 1979 to 2004, Youppi was the mascot of the Montreal Expos baseball team. When the Expos left Montreal, Youppi was adopted by the hockey franchise, becoming the first league-switching mascot in major league sports history.
[edit] Former Mascots
[edit] Howler the Yeti
Howler the Yeti was the offical mascot of the Colorado Avalanche until the 2007-08 season. The Avalanche have fired Howler the Yeti because he assaulted a fan. [9][10]
[edit] Kingston
Kingston was the first mascot of the Los Angeles Kings. He was a Snow Leopard who was around for the 1994 season.
[edit] Nyisles
Nyisles was a "sea-faring Islander" that the New York Islanders used as a mascot[11] prior to Charles Wang obtaining the team and replacing him with Sparky the dragon. Image here
[edit] Slapshot
The Flyers debuted a shortlived skating mascot named "Slapshot" in 1976 but dropped the character by the next season. It remains the only mascot in Flyers' team history.
[edit] Teams without a mascot
The following NHL teams do not have a mascot:
[edit] References
- ^ Al the Octopus
- ^ Picture of Gnash
- ^ Iceburgh's NHL bio
- ^ [http://blues.nhl.com/community/name_the_mascot.htm St Louis Blues - Community - Name the Mascot
- ^ Sabretooth - NHL bio
- ^ S.J. Sharkie - Official site
- ^ Thrash - NHL bio
- ^ Official Thunderbug page
- ^ Article on the Howler the Yeti assaulting a fan.
- ^ Colorado Avalanche forum
- ^ http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CE7DC1F3EF931A35757C0A963958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print
