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Labatt Goalie Cans are a Hit at Pond Hockey Championships

03/04/2015, 1:30pm MST
By Greg Bates - Special to USAHockey.org

Special Labatt Blue cans feature U.S. Olympic goalie masks and the USA Hockey logo

Jim Craig, Rick DiPietro and Ryan Miller are all legends between the pipes on the ice.

Now they are all legends on ice in the form of beer cans.

The three former U.S. Olympic goalies had their masks used on special cans of Labatt Blue and Labatt Blue Light. USA Hockey’s corporate sponsor added a fourth can that features the USA Hockey logo.

“They look absolutely awesome,” said Ashley Bevan, USA Hockey’s senior director of adult hockey. “That’s another great way to spread the word and continue to meld the connection between USA Hockey and Labatt Blue, so that’s special, too.”

The four-can series is running in select markets around the country until the end of March.

“That went over really well in all of the Labatt markets, and it really helped spread the word on USA Hockey jerseys as well,” Bevan said. “I think they sold 350,000 cans in less than a week — that says a lot.”

The goalie mask cans are a follow-up to last year’s series of four Labatt jersey cans. They were designed to replicate the U.S. Olympic men’s hockey team sweaters that were worn in the 1960, 1980, 2002 and 2010 Games.

The three helmets featured in this year’s series are detail-orientated down to the last star. Craig’s mask, which he used during “The Miracle on Ice” in 1980, is completely white. DiPietro’s mask he wore in 2006 is filled with stars and stripes with “USA” painted underneath the chin. Miller’s mask from 2010 commemorates the Founding Fathers with the year “1776” displayed twice at the top of the mask.

The special cans were available during the 10th anniversary of the Labatt Blue/USA Hockey Pond Hockey Championships held Feb. 6-8 in Eagle River, Wisconsin. Labatt Blue has been the main sponsor for the event since it started and recently extended its partnership with USA Hockey for additional four years.

It wasn’t an uncommon sight at the pond hockey championships to see participants walking around the grounds with plenty of special mask cans. They seemed to be a hit for everyone at the event.

“I thought they were unique and it added a little more to the already great experience,” said Bo Viau, who was a team member of Overserved, which played in the 40+ Tier II Division.

“The Jim Craig can is a classic old-school goalie mask. It was a great idea to bring back such classic goalie masks,” said Jeff Glover, who played for the Chicago Clowns in the 40+ Tier II Division. “Maybe down the road they can do it again with NHL masks. I know a lot of masks that would look really cool on the side of a Labatt can like Tony Esposito, Murray Bannerman, Grant Fuhr, to name a few.”

Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc. 

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