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<\/p>\nSEATTLE \u2014 Warren Foegele stepped off the ice at Climate Pledge Arena, celebrating alongside his new teammates. He had joined the Senators just two days earlier, acquired ahead of the NHL trade deadline. And now, after scoring the decisive goal in a 7-4 win over the host Kraken on March 7, the winger was ready to finally catch his breath.<\/p>\n
But first, he walked over to a Sportsnet reporter outside the Senators\u2019 dressing room for a postgame interview on \u201cHockey Night in Canada.\u201d As he arrived, a producer handed Foegele a white gym towel emblazoned with the show\u2019s logo on both ends. The winger immediately draped it over his shoulders, ensuring the logos were visible on-camera.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to make sure my mom sees it,\u201d Foegele said.<\/p>\n
For decades, NHL players such as Foegele have longed to get their hands on this otherwise ordinary piece of cloth. Sized at 24 inches by 52 inches, made of 100 percent cotton, the \u201cHockey Night in Canada\u201d towel represents the fulfillment of a common dream: a live interview on the nationally iconic Saturday night game broadcast, whether at intermission or postgame, beamed to family, friends and fans across the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s not a lot of \u2018Hockey Night in Canada\u2019 I haven\u2019t watched,\u201d veteran Senators forward Claude Giroux said. \u201cSo, being able to have that interview \u2026 it\u2019s definitely something special.\u201d<\/p>\n
Over his 19-year career, Giroux has accumulated so many towels that he\u2019s actually tossed back several on the spot. Some of his contemporaries would be thrilled to catch one.<\/p>\n
Last month, for instance, the towels came up in a text thread with another 2026 trade deadline acquisition, Islanders forward Brayden Schenn, and two of his former Blues teammates, Jake Neighbours and Joel Hofer.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey always talk about the towels,\u201d Schenn said. \u201cAnd Jake says if he doesn\u2019t get one in his career, he\u2019s going to have to take one of mine. But he\u2019ll definitely get one.\u201d<\/p>\n
That is no guarantee, though \u2014 especially since American teams appear on \u201cHockey Night in Canada\u201d far less often than their Canadian counterparts. As a result, the plush tokens have become sacred sources of pride around the league.<\/p>\n
Even foreign-born players such as Jake Sanderson understand the allure. Sanderson, who grew up in the United States, remembers getting his first after scoring an overtime winner against the Vancouver Canucks last season.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe logo on the towel looks pretty cool,\u201d Sanderson said.<\/p>\n
Hurricanes forward Taylor Hall has misplaced many of his towels from the start of his career, when he played for Edmonton. But he took care to save the one that he received at a March road game in Calgary, as a memento for his two sons.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose kinds of things are things that I want to keep and take home,\u201d Hall said.<\/p>\n
As John Shannon rose up the ranks at \u201cHockey Night in Canada,\u201d from production runner in 1977 to executive producer, he noticed other forms of branded paraphernalia given to players.<\/p>\n
In previous Stanley Cup playoffs, players would find hats adorned with the HNIC logo in their dressing room stalls. Some players would receive sunglasses and even mini-sticks postgame, as was the case during the 1983 Stanley Cup Final with the New York Islanders and Edmonton Oilers. But none evolved into collector\u2019s items like the towel.<\/p>\n
Shannon remembers NHL players receiving towels during HNIC intermission and postgame interviews as far back as the 1982 Cup Final between the Islanders and Vancouver Canucks. The following decade, the show struck a deal with a linen company, Wabasso, to produce branded towels featuring the former\u2019s logo and the latter\u2019s name.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe took a great deal of pride in even how the guy wore the towel around his neck, and how it was placed around his neck,\u201d Shannon said. \u201cOur floor director, the original guy, way back then in the late \u201890s, was a guy named Peter Rutherford. He would literally dress the towel around the guy\u2019s neck.\u201d<\/p>\n
Upon becoming executive producer in 1994, however, Shannon put an end to the sponsored towels; instead, by the 1995-96 NHL season, players began receiving the plain white towels with the \u201cHockey Night in Canada\u201d logo still seen today. The sole change is the logo itself: the baby blue, minimalist puck and stick logo transitioned to its present-day version in 1998.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always loved logoed memorabilia,\u201d Shannon said. \u201cThis, to me, was just a logical extension of all the stuff we had done for years. The fact that I had gone from being a producer to being in charge, I didn\u2019t have to ask anybody\u2019s permission to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thus, a legendary linen was born. Scott Oake, the longtime \u201cHockey Night in Canada\u201d broadcaster who recently announced his retirement at the end of the 2025-26 playoffs, said that some players have even resorted to directly asking him for an interview so they can score a towel.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve had players ask me to sign the towel,\u201d Oake added. \u201cI\u2019ll do it reluctantly because I feel it soils the Holy Grail.\u201d<\/p>\n
To Shannon, the towel is a symbol of the show\u2019s legacy, reminiscent of its one-time slogan when he was executive producer: \u201cThe tradition continues.\u201d<\/p>\n
Said Shannon, \u201cAnd I think it speaks to the tradition of what Saturday night hockey is all about. It was families watching the game together, families coming home from a hockey game or coming home from a day out and watching the game together, and then seeing a player interview, and there\u2019s the towel.<\/p>\n
\u201cBrayden Schenn was barely alive when we started this whole thing. And so from that perspective, it\u2019s something he\u2019s seen all his life.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n Ottawa Senators forward Warren Foegele speaks to Sportsnet\u2019s Faizal Khamisa after his Sens\u2019 debut against Seattle in early March. (Julian McKenzie for The Athletic)<\/p>\n
For Schenn, a native of Saskatoon, Sask., who has suited up for four American teams in his 17 NHL seasons, the towels are \u201csacred\u201d items that should only go to players. However, \u201cHockey Night in Canada\u201d once sold them to the public and fans have since put theirs up for sale on eBay. To his chagrin, Schenn also remembered once hearing about a golf tournament that tried to collect towels as giveaways for participants.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s an absolute no-no,\u201d Schenn said.<\/p>\n
As for what players who collect the towels actually do with them, the answer can wildly vary. Islanders forward Bo Horvat kept a few from his days with the Canucks. Many of them went to his father, Tim.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s the collector of them all,\u201d Horvat said. \u201cHe could probably make a bathrobe out of them now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Avalanche forward Nazem Kadri also gave a towel to his father; in turn, Sam Kadri framed it for the family\u2019s lake house. Sam fondly recalled watching Nazem\u2019s postgame interview on a March 2013 edition of \u201cHockey Night in Canada,\u201d after his son scored a hat trick with the Maple Leafs.<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving your son do it, it\u2019s just so surreal,\u201d Sam said. \u201cTo this day, to be honest with you, I\u2019ve got to pinch myself to make sure that this is happening.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve definitely made it. If you\u2019re getting interviewed, usually after the game, you\u2019ve had a pretty good game. It\u2019s just that stamp of approval.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition to a stamp of approval, the souvenir can become an eye-catching accessory: According to Flames forward Ryan Lomberg, a former teammate of Kadri\u2019s in Calgary, Kadri also carries a towel in his golf bag.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a pretty good idea,\u201d Lomberg said. \u201cSo, I\u2019ll probably be carrying one this summer at some point on my golf bag, too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Minnesota Wild forward Nick Foligno keeps up to six towels on a rack in his offseason home gym. Some are a little faded, but all evoke good memories.<\/p>\n
\u201cI pretend to do interviews in the summer with them,\u201d joked Foligno, a 19-year veteran who spent his first five seasons in Ottawa.<\/p>\n
For some players, though, there is such a thing as too much swag.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first one I ever got, I\u2019ve got it hung up in my house,\u201d Senators forward Drake Batherson said. \u201cI\u2019ve got one to wash my car with, and the other few are just hanging around my garage.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even the league\u2019s newest generation is learning to cherish the relics. Earlier this season, after scoring twice against the Maple Leafs in his HNIC debut, including the overtime winner, Islanders super-rookie Matthew Schaefer was chosen for the postgame interview. The 18-year-old smiled from ear to ear, his face broadcast all across Canada.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst off,\u201d Schaefer told Sportsnet broadcaster Kyle Bukauskas, \u201cpretty happy I got my towel.\u201d<\/p>\n
That towel now occupies a precious spot in Schaefer\u2019s gameday stall at the Islanders\u2019 arena. The towel that Foegele earned in Seattle, meanwhile, went to his new home in Ottawa. At season\u2019s end, the Senators forward plans to give it to his parents.<\/p>\n
\u201cWatching \u2018Hockey Night in Canada\u2019 was so much fun, and a big part of my childhood,\u201d Foegele said. \u201cI think anytime you play in those games, it means a little bit more.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014 Joe Smith contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SEATTLE \u2014 Warren Foegele stepped off the ice at Climate Pledge Arena, celebrating alongside his new teammates. He…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":550229,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[377],"tags":[5,10828,4,25,273],"class_list":{"0":"post-550228","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-hockey","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-memorabilia-collectibles","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-ottawa-senators","12":"tag-sports-business"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116385630447342338","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550228","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=550228"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550228\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/550229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=550228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=550228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=550228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}