Feb 28, 2006

Polish Night with the Mississauga Ice Dogs

I wonder how many extra tickets they sold with this promotion in Mississauga:

"Bring your Polish flags and clothing to the IceDogs registration table located just inside the main entrance in order to receive 2 for 1 tickets! Come see Colorado draft pick and Polish born superstar Wojtek Wolski."

Read the Ice Dogs press release...

NBA games without music

Mark Cuban writes on his blog about the NBA's experiments with "silent nights". Those are games where no music is played while basketball is being played.

Cuban's Dallas Mavericks experimented with "silent nights" for a couple of games earlier this season. The results:

"So we added microphones to the floor so the entire arena could hear the sneakers squeaking on the court. We turned up the mics on the rim, so the arena could hear the grunts and guys talking on the defensive side. We brought in the Maniaacs to clap and cheer and encourage the fans to get involved. It didnt work. The energy wasnt there. We got far more complaints than compliments."

"So we shelved the experiment. We went back to music, prompting and energy and the feedback improved considerably."

Read his post...

Feb 10, 2006

Rangers World

Here's a link to some fun scoreboard spots from the New York Rangers. It's flash animation with some fun facts about various NYR players.

Also from the New York Rangers: Celebrity photo gallery

Feb 4, 2006

History of hat tricks

From the Journal News (New York), a brief history of the term "hat trick":

While the Rangers and Devils dispose of what has been tossed, Islanders spokesman Chris Botta said the team places the hats in a bin located near the exit so the fans can try to find them afterward.

NHL spokesman Frank Brown said the Atlanta Thrashers and the Columbus Blue Jackets do have a "Hats From the Heart" program that involves donating hats to children in local hospitals. However, Brown said those teams donate new, clean hats, not the hats thrown onto the ice.

Also, Atlanta, Columbus and the Philadelphia Flyers are among the teams that display some of the hats in the lobbies of their arenas.

...

The term "hat trick" dates to 19th century England and the game of cricket. The athletes were unpaid, and a bowler who took three wickets with three straight balls — like three strikeouts in a row in baseball but far less common — was allowed to pass a hat around the audience for a monetary collection.

In the 1940s, a Toronto haberdasher began giving free hats to Maple Leafs players who scored three goals in a game, though there were similar practices in other cities in both the NHL and the minor leagues, including a hat store outside the old Garden at 50th Street and Eighth Avenue.


Read the full article...