What is the best player-fan celebration in sports?
In Green Bay, Packers and Packers fans have the Lambeau Leap – after scoring a touchdown the Packer player runs and ‘leaps' into the waiting arms of exuberant fans just beyond the end zone.
In NCAA basketball, often after winning a championship or big game of some sort, the floodgates between the crowd and the court open up and thousands of hysterical college sports fans join the winning players on the hardwood.
Personally though, my favourite celebration involving both players and fans is the hat trick celebration in hockey.
The hat trick occurs when any particular player scores three goals in one game. The term hat trick is apparently derived from the sport of cricket, but rose to prominence with hockey in the 1940's, after – as legend goes – a Toronto Maple Leafs supporter offered hats to players scoring three goals in a game.
The celebration – occurring usually at the pro or semi-pro level and usually on home ice – is said to have gained popularity in the '50s, as fans joined the three-goal commemoration by littering the ice with their hats.
The shower of chapeaux adds so much more to this special scoring feat.
With the ice covered in forfeited fedoras, fans are treated to a spectacular sight, which they donated to.
And as for the stereotypically modest hockey player, the cleanup of the cap-covered ice offers a few extra moments to soak it all in.
Because of course, a hat trick is no regular occurrence. A hat trick is something rare and special and deserves the extra attention.
And to cap it all off, the iced caps are usually gathered up and donated to a local charity.
Certainly it can be argued that other player-fan celebrations have elements that appeal to both fans and players as much or more than the hat trick.
But as a hockey player and a recent scorer of a hat trick at the beer-league level, I know about the excitement scoring a hat trick can bring – and about the epic scene that could have been, had some hats hit the ice.
Perhaps it is my recent hat trick background that makes me partial to the toque toss celebration.
Nevertheless, I can say with conviction, the hat trick celebration is one for all sports fans to see.
Don't believe me; check out the YouTube video of a Sidney Crosby hat trick and celebration, coincidently on hat night, back in 2009.
