The Grande Prairie Storm’s reimagined mascot made his debut when the boys faced off against the Drumheller Dragons over the weekend.
“Stormy” is a fan-made interpretation of the Greek god of the sky, Zeus, and Storm Executive Director Nicole Menzies says he embodies everything powerful about the team.
“We thought the storm, the lightning, it was a really fun connection, and we are really excited to have him on board,” she says. “I think Stormy is going to serve as the guy who comes and pumps everybody up, I think it’s cool for the players to sort of have this embodiment of the team.”
According to Menzies, the Storm’s previous mascot “Slapshot” was retired during the COVID-19 pandemic, and she says thanks to increased fan engagement and community support, it was time to introduce another fun character to drive the team into the postseason.
“We’ve really seen an increase in fan engagement, and game day experience over the last year during our home games and we thought a mascot was kind of the next step to really kicking it up.”
Menzies adds that Stormy’s debut was well-received by fans and the team’s skaters alike, and having a mascot adds even more depth to the game day experience both on and off the ice.
“Obviously we have a lot of young fans and when he debuted on Saturday night it was awesome to see all the kids running up and wanting to take a picture with him,” she says. “The team was so excited to see him when we took him out of the box and the guys were so excited they thought it was so cool.”
Plans are now in place to introduce Stormy as another piece of fan engagement for the team, and Menzies says fans should keep an eye out for him at Storm events throughout the offseason.
