{"id":441820,"date":"2026-02-02T18:53:17","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T18:53:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/441820\/"},"modified":"2026-02-02T18:53:17","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T18:53:17","slug":"how-anaheim-ducks-and-the-offspring-combine-hockey-and-punk-rock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/441820\/","title":{"rendered":"How Anaheim Ducks and the Offspring combine hockey and punk rock"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Thousands of cheering fans surround the ice at the Honda Center. The arena is loud, packed with fans in Anaheim Ducks jerseys. As the puck drops and the action starts, players zoom back and forth until \u2014 boom! A shot, and the Ducks score. But when the music hits for the first goal of the game, it\u2019s not the typical \u201cWe Will Rock You\u201d by Queen. It\u2019s \u201cCome Out and Play\u201d by local heroes, and one of Orange County\u2019s most influential punk bands, the Offspring.<\/a> <\/p>\n

To celebrate the third annual Come Out and Play Night, the Ducks have once again collaborated with the band for an evening of hockey, music and special exclusive merchandise for fans. The event will take place Tuesday at the Honda Center against the Vancouver Canucks. The collaborative effort began in 2024, but at the time, no one knew if it would last, including the Offspring\u2019s guitarist, Kevin \u201cNoodles\u201d Wasserman, who told The Times in a phone interview from Canada while on tour with Bad Religion that he and the band hoped it would be more than a one-time event. \u201cThis was the first time we\u2019d ever teamed up with an organized sports team, and the fact that it\u2019s an Orange County team, where we grew up, made it feel right,\u201d Noodles said. \u201cIt\u2019s been really fun, but we had no idea how long it would last. Now it\u2019s three years later.\u201d<\/p>\n

Merrit Tully, senior vice president and chief marketing officer of the Ducks said that the concept for the collaboration between the club and the Offspring came organically as part of an evolution the organization was going through. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe started putting a lot more emphasis on the in-arena experience a little over three years ago. That gave us the opportunity to rethink music, not just as something played between periods, but as something that could really elevate the experience for fans and players alike,\u201d Tully said. \u201cAs this was happening, we approached our 30th season, and we were really leaning into our Orange County roots. We looked at collaborating with the Offspring, since they grew up just a few miles from here, and their rise happened at the same time our franchise was starting. This just felt authentically Orange County in a way that was hard to ignore.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Ducks <\/p>\n

Ducks goalie Lukas Dostal and Noodles hold albums by the Offspring.<\/p>\n

(Jordan Bathe)<\/p>\n

For Ducks goalie Lukas Dostal, who was recently named NHL Third Star of the Week, having a collaboration with a band like the Offspring has special sentimental meaning. \u201cI remember growing up hearing rock music a lot back in my home country, the Czech Republic,\u201d Dostal said. \u201cMy parents would play punk rock and metal when they were driving me to the rink for practice, so hearing the Offspring now kind of brings me back to that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dostal said that he loves many rock and alternative bands he remembers hearing back in his home country, such as Linkin Park. He also said that, as an athlete, music is part of his daily regimen, and it is the same with the Ducks. \u201cWe listen to music every day, before practice, before games. It\u2019s a big part of how we get ready,\u201d he said. \u201cI grew up listening to this kind of music, so whenever I hear these songs, it just pumps me up.\u201d<\/p>\n

For fans who attended the two previous Come Out and Play Nights, people should expect lots of enthusiasm and high energy, mixing the intensity of a concert and a hockey game. \u201cThose nights definitely had a different vibe. You can feel it from the ice,\u201d Dostal said. \u201cThe fans are excited, the music is louder, and it just feels like something special for everyone in the building.\u201d<\/p>\n

Noodles said he agreed with Dostal and added that he thinks the collaboration makes sense because there are a lot of parallels between punk rock and sports like surfing, skating and ice hockey. \u201cWith surfing and skating, there\u2019s always been that mix of flow and violence. You\u2019re carving, you\u2019re gliding, and then sometimes you take a wave on the head,\u201d he said. \u201cHockey has that same thing. It can be really violent, but then there are moments where it\u2019s all speed and movement.\u201d<\/p>\n

With a band having a successful career for over three decades, Noodles said there have been instances of being approached by professional athletes who are fans of the Offspring. \u201cOver the years, we\u2019ve had professional athletes come up to us as fans for sure. One time, Dennis Rodman came out onstage with us and did \u2018Come Out and Play,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cOur producer, Bob Rock, is a huge hockey fan and really got us into going to the Ducks and Kings games.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Members <\/p>\n

Members of the band the Offspring pose for a photo during a pre-game puck ceremony of the game between the Anaheim Ducks and the Vancouver Canucks on Feb. 27, 2025, at Honda Center. <\/p>\n

(Debora Robinson \/ NHLI via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Noodles said he appreciates that a band like the Offspring has generations of fans and values how much the OC music scene is still thriving. \u201cWe\u2019ve always had late teens and early 20s kids in the front row, but now we\u2019re seeing younger kids and their parents, too. There\u2019s a really wide age range at our shows now, and that\u2019s been pretty cool to see,\u201d he said. \u201cThe Orange County scene is still really alive. You see a mix of people from the old bands, but there are also a lot of younger bands coming up. I actually love going to see younger bands because nobody cares who I am. I can just stand in the pit and watch the show.\u201d<\/p>\n

This idea of generations of fans is also seen in the NHL, and Dostal agrees it can be seen with fans of the Ducks. He said this is one of the reasons he loves working with an OC band. \u201cThe Offspring are local, the Ducks represent Orange County, and I\u2019m really happy I can be part of something that connects the two,\u201d he said. Dostal also said that a custom collaborative design on a mask will be revealed at the Come Out and Play Night against the Canucks. \u201cI worked with the guys in the Offspring, we threw around ideas together, and I told them they could basically do whatever they wanted. I\u2019m really excited for fans to see it,\u201d Dostal said.<\/p>\n

Fans of the Ducks and the Offspring can expect a night to remember. It\u2019s all about connection, and giving fans of the music and the team a chance to bring the worlds of sports and punk together for one special night. \u201cBeyond ticket sales, we look at how fans respond in the building,\u201d Tully said. \u201cWhen we score and the arena reacts together to an Offspring song, that tells us the connection is real.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dostal agreed with the sentiment and said he is humbled by the collaborative event, which he said is fan emphasized. \u201cThe Offspring is a huge band all over the world, so being able to work with them and represent that on the ice is something I really appreciate.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thousands of cheering fans surround the ice at the Honda Center. The arena is loud, packed with fans…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":441821,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[2210,233,5292,32384,34242,18076,1739,53955,6911,5,4249,2224,4,820,53957,53954,2651,2019,53956],"class_list":["post-441820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim-ducks","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-ducks","tag-anaheimducks","tag-band","tag-collaboration","tag-dostal","tag-ducks","tag-ducks-score","tag-fan","tag-hockey","tag-lot","tag-music","tag-nhl","tag-night","tag-noodles","tag-offspring","tag-orange-county","tag-part","tag-punk-rock"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116002554801168818","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=441820"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441820\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/441821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=441820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=441820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=441820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}