Brad Marchand had a little pick-me-up during the second intermission of the Florida Panthers’ 6-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference final on Saturday.
The snack of choice, according to the veteran forward who is wrapping up his 16th NHL season: A chocolate chip cookie dough Blizzard from Dairy Queen.
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“You can’t beat it,” Marchand said in a postgame interview with Sportsnet. “It’s the best dessert in the world.”
Marchand then looks straight into the camera.
“I better get a lifetime free supply of Dairy Queen now,” he said. “Thank you fellas.”
But some of Marchand’s teammates — and his coach — are questioning the facts surrounding this story.
“I know he said it, but I’m just not sure that makes it a fact,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said with a smile. “Have video on this? It’s a conspiracy theory.”
The only video from the room that has surfaced so far shows Marchand licking an upside down spoon with no concrete evidence about what was actually being consumed.
But the speculation that it was a Blizzard is stirring up debate.
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“He was eating ice cream in the room?” forward Carter Verhaeghe asked Sunday when the topic was brought up. “Yeah, I didn’t see any ice cream, but I’ve gotta get some of that. … I didn’t get the memo.”
Forward Evan Rodrigues, meanwhile, said in a postgame interview with TNT that there has been Greater’s ice cream in the meal room that “the boys haven’t been shy about, that’s for sure.”
Regardless, the snack appeared to work for Marchand, who scored the Panthers’ fifth and final goal of the third period to turn a 1-1 tie into a 6-1 lead a little more than midway through the frame.
“He’s one of a kind,” Verhaeghe said. “You can tell he’s been around for so long and is such a great leader. Having him on the team is such a huge advantage. It brings so much energy and leadership. For him to be able to play a game like that after, I guess, eating ice cream is pretty crazy.”
