Flyers' mascot Gritty detained by security at the Stadium Series.
NHLBy Andrew Bucholtz on

There’s quite the NHL controversy out there thanks to the actions of wildly-beloved Philadelphia Flyers’ mascot Gritty. Gritty has been known for plenty of past shenanigans, and those continued in Saturday’s Stadium Series game against the Pittsburgh Penguins at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field, with an aerial entrance and a later streaking run. But other NHL mascots weren’t thrilled, with the Los Angeles Kings’ Bailey saying on Twitter that mascots had previously been kept off the Stadium Series field, and the San Jose Sharks’ Sharkie joining the complaints. First, some Gritty highlights, starting with a lit-up Gritty swinging onto the ice ahead of the start of the game:

Gritty later went streaking, and got collared by security:

https://twitter.com/GrittyNHL/status/1099503041265446912

And the Flyers even got in on some memes:

But other mascots weren’t thrilled with the antics, starting with Kings’ lion Bailey:

San Jose Sharks mascot Sharkie chimed in:

Sadly, there doesn’t appear to have been any official commentary from Penguins’ mascot Iceburgh. But NHL Network did spotlight the Gritty-Iceburgh rivalry in a tweet earlier Saturday:

At any rate, the Flyers managed to score two late goals with their goalie pulled to send this one to overtime, then won it 4-3 in the extra frame on a goal from Claude Giroux. Who, as many have noted, now looks like a slightly-less-hairy version of Gritty:

So it was indeed a Gritty night. Objections from other mascots notwithstanding.

[Photo from Mike Darnay on Twitter]

About Andrew Bucholtz

Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.

View all posts by Andrew Bucholtz