Kickin Ice

Tonight, Jo, Maia, and I headed down to the Bobcats Arena to take in a Checkers game. The Charlotte Checkers, now in their 15th season, are our local ECHL franchise, farm team to both the Hartford Wolf Pack of the AHL and the New York Rangers of the NHL. Which means that its Minor League Hockey, and that tickets are cheap. Also because its Minor League Hockey, the games are lightly attended on nights when the opponent is one of the lesser teams in the league. And as tonight's foe was the fearsome *cough* Pensacola Ice Pilots, great seats were readily available. We had three on the blue line at the glass (actually a couple of rows back from the boards). The Checkers, who were in the midst of a 4 game losing streak, easily outplayed the Ice Pilots, who appeared tuckered out and frustrated. Final score Charlotte 6, Pensacola 0.

Nearly every Checkers game has some sort of theme or promotion, and tonight was "Thirsty Thursday", which I think is a two for one beer deal, enabling the many bankers who work uptown to come to the game and get buzzed for half price. Were I a drinker, it would've been a good deal, but I settled for some popcorn and soda. Aside from a couple of goofballs who settled in behind us during the second period, we didn't encounter any untoward behavior, though a guy on the other side of the ice was escorted out by security, which was documented on the jumbotron and seemed to be at least as interesting to the crowd as was the game.

Friday night's big promo is the unveiling of the new Checkers logo. It's felt that the current image is too 'soft', I guess. The team name is a nod to the NASCAR crowd (for the checkered flag that is waved for auto racing), but the mascot, as you can see above, is a cartoon polar bear. A polar bear named Chubby. Chubby Checker. (Yes, The Twist is played at least once during each game.) To my knowledge, polar bears aren't native to North Carolina, and another team in the league, The Alaska Aces, also use a polar bear as their mascot, and Polar Bears have been sighted in Alaska fairly regularly. So, will the new logo somehow reflect the auto-centric culture of the area? A Cars-like mascot? We'll see.

Friday update: Nope. Meet the new Charlotte Checkers logo:


And, for reference, The Alaska Aces logo:


Hmmm. Sort of city mouse/country mouse, if you ask me.

I wonder if the Checkers will alter the mascot outfit, which reminds me of one the Banana Splits suits I wore in my first job years ago at Kings Island? (Ugh. I just looked at the Kings Island site. Understandably, the place has changed so much in 30 years. I doubt I'd recognize it.)

Chubby Checker


Bingo, Snorky, Fleegle, Drooper (seated)

For the record, though not in this publicity still, I was Drooper the Lion. And years later, when I was doing The Adventures of Doc Savage radio series, I worked with Robert Towers, who was inside the Snorky costume for the original series in the late 60's.

Tags: Hockey, Name Check, Super Hero