As the NHL currently celebrates Hockey Fights Cancer month, Florida Panthers defenseman Keith Yandle spent October raising awareness on his own. Partnering with hockey equipment company CCM, Yandle used a rose-gold metallic stick to raise awareness for breast cancer.
Yandle was easy to notice on the ice during games and it wasn’t just because of his defensive abilities. The specially-wrapped stick, which was reminiscent of the pure gold twig the NHL gave Alex Ovechkin to celebrate his 500th goal, is eye-catching and one-of-a-kind.
Yandle did not respond to repeated requests for comment from RMNB, but the Panthers defenseman did speak to NHL.com broadly about what inspired him to work with CCM.
“Everyone knows someone,” Yandle said to NHL.com. “I’ve had aunts with breast cancer, family friends, a kid I grew up with, one of my wife’s best friends, lots of people. It’s just one of those things where everyone knows somebody. For me to be able to help out and do my part, I really take pride in it.
“I just kind of wanted to show my support and do anything I can to help raise awareness,” Yandle continued. “It’s an honor for me to use it. They did a great job with this stick, making it nice.”
Despite a soft push promotionally, Sean Williams, CCM’s Vice President of Global Marketing and Sales, has noticed a lot of positive feedback for the “special-edition” stick so far.
“We received a lot of questions on social if it is available for retail or not. It’s not,” Williams said. “We’ve received a lot of good comments about it. We’re glad people like you have noticed.”
CCM does feel especially connected and proud of this specific stick design. While speaking to Catherine Ward, CCM Stick Product Manager, she said the company has always wanted to find a way to do a pink edition of a stick to promote breast cancer awareness.
“This year, we wanted to do something completely different, something that is more ‘modern’ and eye catching,” Ward said. “To be honest, we got inspired by the trend of rose gold in jewelry and phones. Our designer did a great job working with our supplier to develop a graphic that resembled the rose gold iPhone color. It was not easy to achieve due to the metallic application, but the result was really worth it.”
The stick that received the metallic application was the CCM Super Tacks 2.0.
The stick has drawn attention, but not just from fans attending games. Yandle said he had multiple conversations on and off the ice with teammates and opponents about the stick.
“A lot of guys don’t really know what it is or why I’m using it,” Yandle said. “I’ve got to explain it a little bit. When I tell them what it’s for, they support it.”
Photo: Joel Auerbach
Yandle didn’t name an end date for using the stick, but CCM only created a small amount. If any survive the games, Yandle is open for auctioning to raise money towards further awareness.
“I’m sure we could do something,” Yandle concerning future use of the stick. “It’s one step at a time. We haven’t looked that far ahead. I’m sure we’ll do something.”
While Yandle is the only NHL player with access to this design, the Canadian Women’s National Team also used the sticks during their recent game against the United States.
“We had some of the Olympian Women’s Team use it in the exhibition between Canada and the US,” Williams said. “We had some traction with it, especially with the women. It really showed up well and they loved them. Absolutely loved them.”
As do I.
Additional reporting by Ian Oland.
Headline Photo: @FlaPanthers
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