Finding the best hockey commercials of all time was not particularly easy. A dearth of superstar players means you don’t really get large, national advertising campaigns featuring puck handlers these days. There is no Baker Mayfield or Aaron Rodgers on ice.
And then you have the fact that most hockey players aren’t exactly oozing with charisma. Most TV commercials they feature in are stiff and lifeless. For every Rob Blake one-liner about prescribing laxatives, we get this cold read from Alex DeBrincat. Yikes.
Don’t worry though, we have sorted through all those dull spots to locate seven of the best hockey commercials of all time
Related: 5 things you may not remember about Marty McSorley
7 of the best hockey commercials of all time
Jim Gaffigan gets a pass from the French Canadian goaltender
Nike produced the absolute best hockey commercials of all time in the 1990s. We start with this gem where a French Canadian goaltender who took a job as a taxi driver picks up a young Jim Gaffigan. Everything about this is awesome. Watch it here.
Pierre the Fanatic Hockey Snowman is the only highlight for the Phoenix Coyotes
The four seasons following the NHL lockout were weird for the Phoenix Coyotes. Wayne Gretzky was head coach, but the team was never any good. In fact, the franchise’s lone success from this time might have been Pierre the Fanatic Hockey Snowman. Darren Pang even managed to interview the puppet in what had to have been a career highlight for the broadcaster.
It is a shame Gretzky and the rest of the team didn’t let Pierre the Fanatic Hockey Snowman implement some of his ideas. It’s not like it would have hurt the Coyotes. Come on Keith Ballard, use the telepathic link.
Joe Thornton is a lousy mailman
The San Jose Sharks had a great series of television spots in the early 2010s featuring various players being bad at normal jobs. The pick of the bunch has to be Joe Thornton moonlighting as a mailman.
It’s hard to figure out exactly why, but he’s extremely believable as a lousy mailman. He also tried his hand at being a ventriloquist.
P.K. Subban might not make it at Boston Pizza
What makes this Boston Pizza commercial starring P.K. Subban so great is the ending which has basically ended up foreshadowing the defenseman’s career. The rest of the ad is amusing but hardly anything special.
Montreal and Nashville found ways to trade Subban. No word on if the Canadian pizza chain ever found a taker but maybe a few draft picks would entice Pizza Pizza to make a deal.
The best hockey commercial of all time
It is not really much of a contest for the title of best hockey commercial of all time. This Nike ad featuring a goalie getting caught robbing a bank is epic. Watch it here.
There are a few things to point out here. There is the awesome cameo from legendary Montreal Canadiens netminder Gump Worsley who is visiting his “son” in prison. You also have the goalie ditching the skate like it’s a gun while being chased by the cops. His cellmate’s obsession with the mask is fantastic. They really don’t make commercials this good anymore.
More Commercials: Pizza for Dinner and other ridiculous PSAs from the 1990s
