Poor, poor Harvey the Hound.
It seems NHL fans aren’t fans of the Calgary Flames mascot, placing him last in a poll of favorite team mascots in the league.
Go Flames!.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh
The survey, conducted by NY.bet, an online sports betting site, polled more than 900 Canadian and American hockey fans about all things mascot and found that the Saddledome mainstay was the least popular character in the league .
To add insult to injury, Harvey was also named the second most obnoxious mascot during games (behind the Philadelphia Flyers’ Gritty) and the third scariest mascot in the NHL.
In this Sept. 24, 2018, file photo, Philadelphia Flyers mascot Gritty takes the ice during the first intermission of the Flyers’ preseason NHL hockey game against the Boston Bruins in Philadelphia.
Tom Mihalek / The Associated Press
This is rough news for Harvey, who has the honor of being the first mascot in the NHL. But lest fans of other Canadian franchises get too triumphant — most of the Canadian mascots also placed in the bottom half of the rankings.
The Ottawa Senators’ Spartacat placed 30th on the list of NHL mascots – only one place above Harvey. Yuppie! of the Montreal Canadiens came in 26th, Fin the Whale of the Vancouver Canucks came in 21st, and Hunter, the lynx mascot of the Edmonton Oilers, came in 19th.
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On the other hand, Mick E. Moose of the Winnipeg Jets polled as the second most loved mascot behind Detroit Red Wing’s Al the Octopus, and the Toronto Maple Leafs’ Carlton the Bear took 4th place.
Mick E. Moose.
Michael Draven/Global News
“Shockingly, the best mascot isn’t even necessarily a ‘real’ mascot,” NY.bet wrote of their findings. “While Detroit fans know Al as the team’s mascot, and of course, Detroit’s history of throwing octopuses onto the ice is infamous, you won’t find Al walking around Little Caesars Arena or skating on the ice between periods.
“Maybe that’s why he’s the favorite, he’s the only mascot that doesn’t have a physical presence,” they surmised.
In what the site calls the “least shocking news of the study,” Gritty takes first place for most obnoxious mascot, while Harvey the Hound’s drumbeat ways secure him second place in the category. Victor E. Green of the Dallas Stars ranked third.
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In terms of terrifying mascots, Al the Octopus, Gritty and Harvey secured the one, two and three spots respectively. Fans also found Hunter of the Oilers and the NJ Devil off-putting.
After seeing Harvey’s head pulled from the Saddledome during Calgary’s devastating flood in 2013, you can see why some people might find him a little scary.
On a brighter note, fans ranked Carlton the Bear as the cutest mascot in the NHL, followed by Bernie the St. Bernard with the Colorado Avalanche, Stormy with the Carolina Hurricanes, Nordy with the Minnesota Wild, and Louis with the St. Louis Blues.
Former Toronto Maple Leafs player Ron Ellis poses for a photo with Carlton the Bear, the Maple Leafs mascot, during the Leafs & Legends Charity Golf Classic at RattleSnake Point Golf Club, in Milton, Ont., on September 11, 2019.
Eduardo Lima / The Canadian Press
Despite dragging some of the leagues’ mascots through the mud, 78 percent of participants said they liked mascots in general and the same percentage as their own team’s mascot. Sixty-six percent also think mascots add to the overall NHL experience and like how mascots interact with fans.
NY.bet polled 914 self-identified NHL fans from Canada and the US between the ages of 18 and 76.
© 2022 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
