It was a tough start for Gritty, the viral new mascot for the Philadelphia Flyers hockey team, who made his game debut on Monday — and promptly slipped and fell on the ice.
Legs flailing, orange fur bright against the white ice, Gritty makes quite a picture of a floundering mascot. Luckily he was decked out in his helmet to keep his head protected during the fall — and we can guess that his voluminous mascot costume at least provides for plenty of padding, a nice layer of protection against the cold, hard ice.
But it’s not a particularly auspicious starting point for a character who has already raised eyebrows with his googly eyes and distinctive posture. And unfortunately the Flyers also had a rough day of it, falling 4 to 3 in a preseason game against the Boston Bruins. (Their mascot, meanwhile, is the rather more dignified Blades, a fierce ice-skating brown bear.)
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Better luck next time to both Gritty and his teammates as they take on the New York Rangers on Thursday in another preseason matchup. The Rangers don’t have a mascot, so at least Gritty won’t have much competition on that side of things.
