Center ice at Wings Event Center, home of the ECHL’s Kalamazoo Wings, on Saturday night looked a little bit different than usual.
The Wings’ game against the Toledo Walleye fell on the team’s “Hockey is for Everyone” night, which meant doing something the franchise has been known for: coloring the ice.
The neutral zone and half of each offensive zone featured rainbow-colored ice.
“We are looking forward to being able to shine a light on creating an environment of togetherness no matter the race, national origin, religion, gender, disability, sexual orientation, or socio-economic status,” said Wings general manager Toni Will when the promotion was announced in October.
The Wings fell 4-2, but the ice looked good during gameplay, like when Andrew DeBrincat -- Alex’s older brother -- put Kalamazoo up a goal late in the second period.
🚨🚨🚨DeBRINCAT🚨🚨🚨 GIVES THE K-WINGS THE LEAD BEFORE THE BUZZER!!! pic.twitter.com/tQuvRdTbN9
— Kalamazoo Wings (@KalamazooWings) January 8, 2022
Along with the rainbow-colored ice, the Wings wore special jerseys which were auctioned off for charity.
Colored ice is something the Wings organization has been known for and will continue to do as a promotion. They’ve used green ice for St. Patrick’s Day, orange for Halloween, pink for Breast Cancer Awareness, and lavender for Hockey Fights Cancer night.
We’d really like to see the memorable yellow ice brought back as part of another McDonald’s promotion...
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Sean Leahy is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @Sean_Leahy.