It's Icy Again!

I usually don't spend a lot of time talking about mascots on HBIC simply because they don't generate many stories. I did spend a little time on July 24 talking about the mascot to the left in Icy D. Eagle after Friend of the Blog Fiona Quinn asked about Icy's appearance as the Winnipeg Jets' mascot back in 1995. In that article, I had mentioned that Icy was " a regular in the nominations for the annual ECHL Mascot of the Year award", and that voting happened this week for the 2026 award. Of course, you shouldn't be surprised that Icy D. Eagle won his third ECHL Mascot of the Year award as Komets fans put Icy on the map again, but you should be impressed with what else they did to celebrate Icy's third crown as the ECHL's best mascot!

You may have heard that the Fort Wayne Komets are celebrating their 75th anniversary this season, so they're really digging into their history. They'll wear three jerseys representing the championship teams from each of the eras in which they won the Turner Cup. Frankly, those jerseys look incredible, and I'm seriously giving those 1991-92 jerseys some thought about joining my collection.

Personal closets aside, the Komets also produced a video celebrating their long-time mascot's history of how Icy joined the Komets! Check out this great video of Icy, and note the Winnipeg clip in the footage!
How amazing is that? Full marks to the Fort Wayne Komets for creating this video! How many other teams have videos of their mascots from all different eras with an audio recap of the mascot's history? Hint: not many, if any, at all. This video is more evidence as to why the Komets are one of the classiest minor-pro teams, though!

I feel pretty proud that I contributed two seconds of footage to the video above thanks to finding that YouTube video of the Jets and Stars in 1995. Fiona gave me a shout-out on Twitter after the Komets posted the video, but I will gladly downplay my "work" because the other 80 seconds that the Komets provided is so darned good!

I clearly have no effect on how the Komets play or how they'll finish the 2026-27 season, but they are starting this season off by doing everything right. The three historical jerseys are replicas of the ones worn in each of the three championship seasons, they're honouring their past with reverence and resepct, and they're signing good players to make a run when the action on the ice starts. If the hockey gods are watching, everything they're doing since kicking into 75th anniversary mode should win the graces of said hockey gods!

Congratulations to Icy on being voted as the ECHL's best mascot for the third time, and keep up the great anniversary work, Komets!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!