As all you hockey fans know, when a hockey player scores three goals, it’s known as a hat trick, and fans typically show their approval by flinging the hat they are wearing out on the ice. You’ll often see up to a hundred caps out there when this occurs.
What’s done with all the hats? Are they given to charity? Do the stadium employees get their pick of the bunch?
Most people don’t usually go to an NHL game wearing a low-quality hat in the hopes of throwing it on the ice for a hat trick - these are usually darn good, expensive team caps.
“You should tell the truth, expose the lies and live in the moment.” - Bill Hicks
I was always under the impression that the hats went to the player who scored the hat trick… a momento, similar to keeping the puck for X number of goals milestones.
As I think about it, I have zero basis for this assumption - but am curious for more enlightened opinions!
MjS
The Sleeper has AWAKEN!
What, this is a stumper?
“You should tell the truth, expose the lies and live in the moment.” - Bill Hicks
They usually end up in the trash. It may be the players decision, but I’ve never heard of a player taking them in the modern hockey era. I know that they get thrown out because a few years ago, a fan here in Dallas somehow managed to throw his keys onto the ice along with his hat and the papers had the story about the guy digging through bags of hats. I don’t remember if he found his keys or not.
Sometimes you feel like a coconut, sometime you feel like a yak.
Georges Laraque (of the Edmonton Oilers) is an enforcer-type player who recently got a hat trick. He kept all three pucks plus all hats that were thrown on the ice since this will be such a rare occurence for him.
I believe he had plans to give away the hats to some kids at a local hospital.
At the local public high school games, after the hats hit the ice, one of the employees scoops up all the hats and dumps them back over the board to the kids. They don’t do that for university games though. Weird.