Top 5 Most Entertaining NHL Twitter Accounts

Hockey players are known across the sports world as being the most cliché and boring in interviews and such. It is the "Canadian way" of being politically correct and not drawing any conflict to your team. You can say this about any sport, but you just don't see the Richard Sherman's, ranting calling out the other team, or the A Rod's that are constantly engaged in controversy with NHL players. Hockey players are known to be the most giving and down to earth, but social media has changed this perception. The players themselves are still as robotic and cliché in interviews as ever, but the team accounts on social media is a different story.

Social media has changed the way these team twitter accounts interact with fans. Some have different strategies than others. Some of these accounts are still the same monotonous, boring, informative text over and over though. This blog is mostly going to focus on how these players/team build their brand up by presenting themselves as humorous, yet also with a strong fixture on fan engagement.



5). Paul Bissonnette (@BizNasty2point0)

Bissonnette is what we call a "goon" in the hockey world. The man is not a skilled hockey player at all, and is just out there to fight. He's there to protect his teammates if the opposing team throws a questionable hit or if momentum needs to change during the game. Bissonnette's brand is simple: he's a goon and he knows it. The amount of tweets he has put out there making fun of himself for being a terrible hockey player is what makes him known. You don't have over 500,000 followers if you are terrible, you have to at least be funny. His most famous tweet came on this past Christmas, where he's implying wants more time on the ice than the bench.

Like I said, his brand is to crack jokes on himself about being an awful hockey player, and he is funny. He also enjoys tweeting at others, including this tweet at the arguable best goalie in the world, Henrik Lundqvist.

The other part of social media he's known for is fan engagement. He is constantly getting tweeted at by fans telling him how awful he is, yet he doesn't want to hear this from anybody else but himself.

 

 4). Jakub Voracek (Philadelphia Flyers @jachobe) 

Voracek is one of the best wingers in the NHL, so his persona on Twitter is much different than that of BizNatsy's. I picked Voracek because I find him extremely entertaining. He doesn't tweet much, but when he does, they are pretty hysterical. Seeing as he's from the Czech Republic, his English is shoddy and his tweeting is even worse. I consider his personality on Twitter to be that of one that is funny/entertaining. He loves to just tweet whatever is on his mind and has no filter at all. Here's an example of one of his funniest tweets right above, though kind of grotesque.

 Here's another gem, notice how awful his English and hashtags are. This was obviously right after the controversial SuperBowl ending in February.

There is a much more serious side to the man they call Jake though, he is very charity/community oriented. Every home game in Philadelphia he buys an entire suite for underprivileged kids and calls it Voracek's Vault. He promotes this often on twitter after games, like this tweet below.

3). Dallas Stars Team Twitter Account (@DallasStars)

The Stars are considered a "small market" team. They recently have came to the forefront of the NHL by pretty much stealing NHL superstar Tyler Seguin from the Boston Bruins in a blockbuster trade that Boston is deeply regretting. This had led to an emergence of the Stars in the hockey community. The Stars twitter account has taken a very controversial route in social media. They aren't as controversial as one of the teams I will mention later on, but they do put things up on their twitter and on the big screen that some teams would not dare. A common theme here with the stars is they love to make fun of fans of the opposing team when they come to Dallas. Below are some examples, and though it's not exactly through social media (it's on the big screen), they are incorporating social trends in these. The first picture is ragging on Blackhawk fans who have been known to have a huge bandwagon following since their first cup in 50 years in 2010. The second photo is Justin Bieber's mugshot, who is a Maple Leaf fan, and the Leafs just so happened to be in town that night.

The most famous tweet that comes from the Stars though, is one that was a major hit on twitter. Everybody loves to hate on the Cowboys and Tony Romo, and the Stars got their chance after being provoked by the Cowboys. Somebody "hacked" into the Cowboys twitter account and tweeted about how nobody cares that hockey season is starting. The Stars responded with a shot at the Cowboys, with a picture of the franchise's greatest player ever, #9, Mike Modano, lifting the Stanley Cup.

2). Columbus Blue Jackets twitter account (@BlueJacketsNHL)

The Columbus Blue Jackets are a relatively new franchise, only 16 years old. They are one of the smallest fan bases, but you wouldn't know it by their Twitter account. They have a huge following on twitter, and are often referred to as "Lumbus". Lumbus really received a huge following after dissing ESPN for their lack of hockey coverage, in the tweet below.

Columbus is also very well known for interacting with other team accounts, most notably the Los Angeles Kings. These two accounts started out constantly bickering at each other due to a lot of trades between the 2 teams and the Kings becoming so successful from former Blue Jacket players, so there's a history. Now, you would assume that if these 2 accounts were human beings, they'd be inseparable.

1). Los Angeles Kings Twitter Account (@LAKings)

The LA Kings twitter account, there is not much more to say. They are rude, stuck up, controversial, offensive, yet they are perfect. This twitter account is notorious for being those aforementioned qualities. The amount of tweets I could post would take all day. The Kings brand is being extremely condescending, and the hockey world has taken notice. They are notorious for doing a question and answer series during the intermissions of games, and here are some notables.

The tweet that really put the Kings on the social media map was when they eliminated the Vancouver Canucks in the 2012 playoffs en route to their 1st Stanley Cup. Vancouver is one of the most detested franchises in the sport outside of BC (British Columbia province), so the Kings gained a huge following after this gem of a tweet.

The Kings account has been seriously criticized for 1 certain tweet. The tweet below was one of the Q&A's during an intermission game that bothered a lot of people.

 It sent a shock among the hockey world, especially because a week earlier one of the Blackhawk's medical trainers did in fact commit suicide. The Kings issued a lengthy apology on twitter the next day. The apology read: "During our games we make it a priority to answer questions from our fans via Twitter feed to create conversation and drive engagement through our fan base. Unfortunately, in the midst of answering questions during the second intermission, one of those replies was insensitive and inappropriate. We recognize this and apologize for our reply. We have removed the comment and have taken action to make sure this does not happen moving forward".


These accounts are not all perfect and we love them for different reasons. Social media is still a relatively new asset at our disposal, even the professionals are still learning it. We've all seen things from people in a higher position that still put ridiculous things on Twitter. Each of these accounts has a set goal that they are trying to accomplish. Bissonnette wants to be known as a human first, then a hockey player with his sense of humor. Jakub Voracek likes to promote his #VoraceksVault campaign on twitter. The Dallas Stars want to put fear into opposing fans, knowing that they may well be made fun of publicly on their scoreboard. Columbus loves to interact with other teams and has created a friendly vibe with most team accounts. The Kings, well, they have just pretty much pissed everyone off besides Columbus. The point stands though, they all have their agendas. I am excited to see what new brand personalities these accounts take on next season, it'll be a whole nother off season to plan ahead. 

Final Four Athlete

I am not into basketball at all, let alone college. It has always been a disinterest to me, and I don't watch any of the March Madness tournament. As a big sports fan though, I am very in sync with upcoming stars in each of the four major sports. This led to me choosing to do my blog on the likely 1st overall pick in June, Jahlil Okafor. Okafor came into this season with a lot of fanfare and was the consensus first overall pick, and he did nothing but improve his status since then. He won a national championship last week with Duke. You would think that with this much recognition as a freshman he would be very interested in endorsement deals and such.

Being such a young star brings a lot of criticism, not only to his game on the court but his brand off the court. Many young players with a lot of fanfare cannot handle this well and are immature, but Okafor is an exception. The young man is very family oriented and this is the main sticking point to his brand. If you follow him on twitter and instagram a common theme with him is the importance of family. His whole brand is to try to come off as a respectable young man who understands how vital family is. He is not one to boast or brag about his amazing performances on the court. This kid dominated the NCAA and his stats blow away the rest of the competition. It is hard to keep a level head at that point, but Okafor understands how crucial it is to his game on the court to stay level headed. It is all part of his brand, and it makes the public have an affection for him.

The young man's play on the court is very similar. He is complete opposite of a selfish player is the definition of a team player. Okafor hardly ever even handles the ball outside the paint, which shows how he is a team player. He opens up so much room for his teammates. It is kind of ironic how little he touches the ball yet he puts up excellent numbers, he has a huge impact on the game by just being there. He doesn't have the same impact in his own end though, he is known as a liability in his own zone. He is obviously monstrous, standing at 6'10" 270 pounds. He is far from a Charles Barkley type player though. Okafor could be looked at as "soft" for a big man, comparable to Dwight Howard.

If I was Okafor's brand manager, the first brand I would target is simple: Nike. They pay the most money to endorsers, and that is the be all end all for athletes. I think that his persona would fit well with that brand. Nike is known for being a brand that employs high class athletes and ones that avoid controversy. My second brand would be Red Bull. Red Bull is my favorite drink and I think that they do a great job in the sport industry. They have a lot of extreme sport endorsements and they love to give fans an in depth look at their athletes. These mostly include GoPro views, which really show what the athletes are looking at while performing their respective sports.