Pucky the Whale remembered as fourth-most missed NHL mascot, according to survey

Mascots aren’t forever.

It’s a sentence that’ll bring a tear to your eye, although hockey fans in Hartford already know it is one of life’s truths.

Still, a really memorable mascot can make an indelible impact on a community, and its memory can far outlive the final time its human incarnation removes its sweaty head, and stumbles into the locker room, presumably for a postgame beer like in that commercial.

Pucky the Whale was never a ‘real’ NHL mascot, much in the same way that Pinocchio was never a real boy until the end of that story. He was merely an alternate logo, adorned on the shoulders of Whalers jerseys and even immortalized as the entrance to the old team store at the Hartford Civic Center.

Even still, NHL fans miss the old green fella, who came to life as a full, anthropomorphized character when the Hartford Wolf Pack changed their name to the Connecticut Whale from 2010-13.

In a survey of over 900 NHL fans conducted by NY Bet, Pucky came in fourth in the “most missed” category. He finished just behind Pete the Penguin, the Colorado Avalanche’s Howler the Yeti, and the Columbus Blue Jackets’ Boomer the Cannon.

That’s quite a legacy to leave.

Pucky may not represent a current NHL team anymore (though he has been used when the Carolina Hurricanes wear the old Whalers uniforms as part of Whalers Night), but he still shows up at Hartford Yard Goats and Athletic games, as well as at Connecticut Whale games, which is now the name of the professional Premier Hockey Federation women’s hockey team in the state.

Pucky isn’t even really gone, yet he’s still missed.

That pretty much says it all, doesn’t it?