Harvey the Hound gives huge surprise to youth players after no-showing event (Video)
Calgary Flames mascot Harvey The Hound was supposed to attend a charity hockey tournament in December 2013 between youth teams Black Diamond and High River, a tournament that was due to assist those affected by the June 2013 floods in Alberta.
Alas, Harvey never made the event due to a scheduling conflict.
Which really, really bummed out the players. They weren’t, like, MacTavish mad, but pretty bummed.
The Flames were made aware of this, and decided to make amends by going well above and beyond what might have been expected: Not only did Harvey show up at the rink in Black Diamond, but he eventually led both teams to the Saddledome where they played a game on NHL ice, complete with pyrotechnics, their own jerseys in the locker room and appearances from Flames players and coaches.
Take a look at this awesome clip posted by the Flames on Monday:
In summary: Harvey and Farley The Fox, the Calgary Hitmen’s mascot, showed up to surprise the young players at their rink and handed them invitations for a “Big League Experience.” The players were loaded onto buses and shuttled to the Saddledome, where they had personalized jerseys in the locker rooms waiting for them and a game to play on the ice.
Flames captain Mark Giordano and rookie star Sean Monahan surprised the players in the locker room with some words of advice before the players hit the ice for a game that featured a PA announcer, the full scoreboard experience and even the Canadian anthem. Later, Coach Bob Hartley and assistant Martin Gelinas joined the young players for some “strategy” on the benches.
As redemption goes, this is solid work from the Flames. Although we wish they would have gone with their initial plan of overcompensating for guilt, which was to allow each of the youth players to spend a day as the team’s general manager in the offseason. At least that's what we assume it was.
