Connor McDavid wears ridiculous super player of game suit; ZAP! POW! (Photo)
The player of the game should be honored by his team. Some give out hard hats or fedoras. Others give out jackets, like the Boston Bruins.
The Erie Otters of the Ontario Hockey League also give out a jacket. And a tie. And pants. And all of it looks like it was ripped from the pages of a golden age Marvel Comic, as modeled here by Connor McDavid after Saturday night’s game.
[ Yahoo Sports Fantasy Hockey: It's time to join a league today! ]
It’s all thanks to head coach Kris Knoblauch. He started handing out a warrior mask in 2012. Then it was a hard hat last season. Those trinkets were handed out inside the locker room; this season, Knoblauch wanted to have something that could be seen by all when the Otters were on the road. And apparently, also from space.
"We wanted something loud, something that would draw attention," he said of the Super Player of the Game suit, a wildly colorful and delightfully unique (or tacky and hideous, depending on whom you ask) jacket, tie and pants combo that makes its first Erie Insurance Arena appearance tonight if the Otters defeat Sarnia in their 7 p.m. home opener.
Assistant coach Jay McKee, whom Knoblauch enlisted to find the suit, found nothing suitable at two Salvation Army shops and a Goodwill store. But he couldn't miss the superhero-themed outfit featuring words like "Bang," "Boom" and "Pow" emblazoned in bright blue, red and yellow that hung on a rack in the Halloween Spirit store at the Millcreek Mall.
"It looks like a clown suit," center Dylan Strome said, "and it's pretty special."
There are rules for the suit. The previous game’s winner presents the newest player of the game with the suit. It must be worn on the bus ride home on the road and to dinner (!) on off nights.
Ah, but like any Super Suit, it offers protection, according to GoErie.com:
Players sitting with the game MVP at dinner on the road cannot be victims of the team's traditional "shoe-check" prank, which features putting condiments and other foods on unsuspecting teammates' shoes without being caught.
Edna Mode couldn't have designed a better suit. Excelsior!
