Shane Doan said
earlier this week that he was honored to be named one
of three finalists for the Mark Messier NHL
Leadership Award, an award that recognizes leadership on the ice and
social contributions off it.
Doan, who's been with the Coyotes for their
entire Valley existence, has long been known as one of the NHL's good
guys.
It's a noteworthy award, but it isn't nearly as
interesting as the one he was presented earlier this week by the candy brand Skittles. Let's just get this out of the way: Shane Doan now owns a hockey stick
made entirely out of Skittles.
Yes. A hockey stick.
Made out of Skittles.
"I didn't ever really think I'd be holding a stick, top to bottom, full of Skittles," Doan told PhoenixCoyotes.com.
The candy brand said the
not-lacking-for-uniqueness item was intended to "congratulate him on his
incredible performance and leadership this season." Skittles obviously
knows how to put together an award, although Doan seemed a bit confused by the whole thing.
"I'm not really sure," Doan told the Coyotes' official site when asked the reason for receiving the stick. "I enjoy Skittles, I mean they taste very good, but I'm not an avid consumer of Skittles. My kids enjoy Skittles, and that was probably bigger for me . . . I thought it'd be pretty cool to be able to show 'em a stick made of them."
To answer the obvious question, the Skittles are real, edible candies and not replicas, but the stability of the stick makes removing them rather difficult and, frankly, undesirable.
"The Skittles are real but they're glued on, so you don't want to try eating them," Doan said.
While Doan did not answer the intriguing questions of whether the candy
coating wears off on his hands (a common problem when consuming Skittles
out of the package) or how he displays a Skittles stick in his beautiful,
rustic Scottsdale home, he did make it clear that the stick is both durable and flavorful.
"My kids have been using it and playing with it a little bit, and other kids have been using it and playing with it . . . it's starting to get beat up a little bit, but the blade's holding up."
He added, "I'm pretty sure (these are) tropical Skittles, which I think are the best kind of Skittles."
