Toledo Walleye

If there’s two things in life that I live for it’s Star Wars and ice hockey. Which means that when you bring those two things together, it becomes the “Reese’s Cup” of AWESOME!  And that is exactly what happened when Great Lakes Base and Ohio Garrison returned for “Star Wars Night” with the Toledo Walleye.

After the overwhelming success of last year’s Star Wars promotion, you would think this year has to be BIGGER then the year before – but if there’s anything I learned growing up playing hockey it’s that not every goal is scored on the power play!  We have done several sporting events with this organization, who also own the Toledo Mudhens baseball team (across the street) and one of the things we keep emphasizing to their promotions staff is that our guys work best when we are interacting with the fans.  So that is exactly the mission the Walleye staff gave us!

First off was a pregame character dinner where fans could enjoy some burgers and hot dogs, followed by some special one-on-one time with us.  Many of the kids were dressed up in their favorite Star Wars costumes and each family went around taking pictures with us.  It was fun to get to spend a little extra time with each kid, asking them who their favorite Star Wars character was -- particularly the one kid who pointed to me and said, “You!” (you can bet that kid got a high five for that answer)

Eventually, it was time for the game to start and we setup around the Walleye’s photo booth station.  The photo booth had a “green screen” backdrop (because what is Star Wars without a little green screen effects?) where fans could get their photo taken with any of us and have a special Star Wars background added in.  Each of us took turns in front of the camera, sometime fans would request for a specific character or two. The rest of us took pictures with fans passing by or as they waited in line for the photo booth.

Hockey is a game of speed and trying to troop one goes by even faster!  Plus it was a good night for the home team as the Toledo Walleye defeated the Orlando Solar Bear 4-3, extending their six game winning streak.  I’d like to personally thank the Toledo Walleye staff for not only inviting us… but also for taking care of my parents, who drove up to watch both the game and watch their kids play “Star Wars” -- two things which go great together!