Thursday night marked the apparent birthday of Nordy, the Minnesota Wild’s beloved mascot. To celebrate the event, mascots from several other NHL teams made the trip to Xcel Energy Center for their colleague’s special day.
And how do NHL mascots celebrate birthdays, you ask? By allowing the birthday mascot to beat a rival mascot senseless with a bat, apparently, with the victim being Chicago Blackhawks mascot Tommy Hawk.
The savage beating occurred during an intermission of the Wild’s 7-1 thrashing of the Montreal Canadiens. But the beat-down the Wild laid on the Habs was nothing when compared to Nordy’s treatment of Tommy Hawk, who earlier in the night shoved a cake in Nordy’s face.
It all started with a blindfolded Nordy swinging a bat at a piñata held by Tommy Hawk. That’s when things took a turn for the worse. Nordy’s first swing missed the piñata and instead struck the Blackhawks mascot. And then the beating began.
Egged on by the announcer to “keep swinging,” Nordy rained blow upon blow down on down-on-the-ice Tommy Hawk. The beating ended with 10 swings of the bat.
All there was left to do was have Tommy Hawk’s fellow mascots drag his lifeless body off the ice. It was quite the spectacle.
The announcer noted that Tommy Hawk got what he deserved for slamming that cake in Nordy’s face while telling the mascots to get him to the medic.
Afterward, the crowd was almost eerily quiet as Nordy attempted to pump them up, perhaps due to a collective attempt to process what just happened. It was a weird scene to say the least.
Suffice to say, the violent skit hasn’t exactly gone over well with everyone. According to the Chicago Tribune’s Chris Kue — who blasted the performance from a “league trying to eradicate unnecessary violence on the ice and promote a family atmosphere” — the NHL contacted the Wild about the Thursday night’s events.
The Wild also apparently intend to make a public statement concerning the skit on Friday. The Blackhawks had no comment.
Whatever the outcome or fallout, it was quite the scene. Happy birthday, Nordy. Or something.
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