Category: Puck Goes Pop

Late in his second stint as the Marvel Comics editor-in-chief, Stan Lee helped launch Captain America in earnest. As the comics’ saga went, and as was loosely redone in this decade’s movie series, the character was trapped and preserved in ice late in World War II. He would be thawed, exhumed and enlisted among the…

This past Monday, the Philadelphia Flyers unveiled Gritty, a seven-foot orange creature, as their first official mascot since 1976. Instant fame ensued, as Gritty rocketed to prominence with an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. He also garnered attention on Good Morning America and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. With that, there are now 30 mascots amongst…

As a concept, Pepsi is as old as Stanley Cup competition. The soda and the sports tournament share an 1893 birthdate. In each entity’s quasquicentennial year, one might think the stars aligned for the beverage to partner with the game. It has, still does and is slated to continue to do so. Even while Coca-Cola…

J.T. Brown made adjustments in more areas than hockey this past year. The Lightning-turned-Ducks forward is an avid gamer with a long history playing video games of all forms. Starting 12 months ago, Brown brought his passion for gaming to the world when he started live-streaming his gameplay to audiences of tens or even hundreds. Over…

Two years later, the missed opportunity by the AHL’s Western Massachusetts franchise still boggles the mind. In 2016 Springfield was getting a new team for the first time since 1994. That year the departing Falcons had flown in one month before The Simpsons premiered its hockey-centric episode, “Lisa on Ice.” During the 22-year interim, the series that…

When running an AHL or ECHL team, there is more flexibility to come up with creative promotional tactics to entice fans of all ages to attend. The Kalamazoo Wings, currently the ECHL affiliate of the Vancouver Canucks, have embraced this idea wholeheartedly in their promotions for their games. Just to name the top example, this…

Sophomore Sebastian Vidmar enjoyed a breakout season on the ice for Union College, scoring 41 points in 35 games after posting 10 in 27 during his freshman year. Off the ice, however,  he has plenty of hobbies to keep him busy. Both in his youth and at college, he has enjoyed playing board games. He grew…

Thatcher Demko, rookie goalie for the Utica Comets and former second-round pick of the Vancouver Canucks, is a prolific Twitter user. Scroll through his timeline and you will see numerous hockey-related tweets, including retweets of his team’s or former teammates’ accomplishments, plus mentions of the U.S. national program. However, one item outside of hockey stands out: Netflix. From…

The benefit that sport and literature offer us is escapism, but the gift that they offer us is engagement. We’ll probably never know how it feels to score an NHL goal, and we’ll DEFINITELY never know how it feels to cast a spell, but that’s beside the point. We see ourselves in our heroes –…