The NHL Media Tour (or most importantly, #NHLMediaTour) took place this week, and one could conclude that many of the aims were mundane.
... That said, bravo to all of those involved for coming up with dazzling visual displays, moments of hockey players facing kids in adorable ways, and doodles that seemed like they could have come from those kids.
Oh, and there were moments when hockey players were asked to pick up pucks with chopsticks. For, uh, reasons.
If you want to go down the rabbit hole, some of the best stuff can be found at the NHL on NBC Twitter and Instagram feeds, while #NHLMediaTour provides entertainment (though you’ll have to weed through a few weird bits here and there).
For the sake of your browser/scrolling convenience, this is far from a comprehensive collection of the best, funniest, and weirdest bits. Still, there should be a hearty helping of all of those things.
There were some really cool/trippy bits featuring players with team-related backgrounds, but this one of Jamie Benn for the Dallas Stars seems like it would fit in at a pro wrestling event or Pink Floyd laser light show.
Star(s) struck. @jamiebenn14 pic.twitter.com/jdZersnRA3
— NBC Sports Hockey (@NBCSportsHockey) September 7, 2017
USA Today’s Jimmy Hascup deserves a gold star (maybe hastily drawn by a pro athlete?) for asking players to draw their teams’ logos.
We asked players at #NHLMediaTour to sketch their team's logo. The results ... pic.twitter.com/iCZsMo00BE
— Jimmy Hascup (@jhascup22) September 7, 2017
You can see the second part in this tweet. Russian Machine Never Breaks graded each bit of artistry.
(Aside: as my high school notebooks would attest, mine wouldn’t approach the Max Domi level.)
From Sidney Crosby to Connor McDavid to Charlie Coyle and beyond, there were some fun interactions between players and kids, sometimes on the ice.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BYwqtTtB7hx/?hl=en&taken-by=nhlonnbcsports
Marc-Andre Fleury took the cake when it came to these clips, and it looks like he did so more than once.
It doesn't matter how old you are. Despite being a goalie, if given a chance, Marc-Andre Fleury WILL dangle you🌸 pic.twitter.com/aWoqpKd0qt
— 🏆 - Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) September 7, 2017
Glorious.
Finally, here’s footage of the chopsticks bit which is remarkably random but admittedly pretty great.
Showing off my chopsticks skills at #nhlmediatour pic.twitter.com/XCDICJiQ4G
— mark scheifele (@markscheifele55) September 6, 2017