24 February 2020
Spiky the Hedgehog is the mascot of the 2021 Ice Hockey World Championship

On February 24, at the headquarters of the National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Belarus, was presented the official mascot of the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship 2021 - Spiky the Hedgehog.

General Secretary Polina Golovina represented the NOC of Belarus at this ceremony.

More than 100 designs from Belarusian and Latvian representatives were claimed the title of the main symbol of the upcoming tournament. They were submitted by professional artists, design studios and even hockey fans.

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The winner was chosen by a celebrity jury consisting of Belarusian hockey legend and Dynamo Minsk head coach Mikhail Grabovski, four-time Olympic champion Darya Domracheva, resident of the Comedy Club Show Andrei Skorokhod, BI-2 frontman Shura, UFC champion Andrei “Pitbul” Arlovski, Olympic champion in freestyle Anna Guskova, general director of Belarusfilm Vladimir Karachevski and chairman of the Belarusian Ice Hockey Federation Gennadi Savilov from the Belarusian side; president of the Latvian Ice Hockey Federation Aigars Kalvitis, TV presenters Armands Simsons and Aivis Tserinsh, head of the organizing committee of the tournament in Latvia Edgars Buncis, guitarist of the Brainstorm band Janis “Magic” Jubalts, singer Intars Busulis and Kaspars Buls, CEO of the mobile operator BITE Latvia on the Latvian side.

By the way, all hockey fans were able to evaluate the ideas of the participants - the organizers of the contest established a People’s Choice Award: the Belarusians could vote on the Belarusian Ice Hockey Federation website and on its official page in Vkontakte website. In Latvia it was proposed to choose the best character in a shopping center in Riga.

About 8000 users made their choice. The winners of the People’s Choice Award were Dmitri Galinovski and Pavel Marchenkov, who proposed the idea of ​​the Cockchafer called Mays/Khrushch (AIDA Pioneer advertising and marketing agency), Anna Novik, Nikita Ustinovich and Anastasia Maksimovich took second place in voting on Vkontakte, who developed the concept of Raccoon Gulyaka (DAB creative agency). According to the results of the voting in Riga, the prize of People’s Choice should be awarded to a Latvian designer Janis Burmeisters, who proposed the image of Hedgehog as a mascot of the upcoming championship.

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As expected, the jury's opinion largely concured with the public's one. The submitted proposals were evaluated by the jury according to several characteristics: graphics, correspondence to the theme, creativity, and compliance of the character with the traditions and culture of Belarus and Latvia. After all points summed up, the competition committe announced Raccoon Gulyaka the winner (3.75 points out of 5), second was the Hedgehog (3.68) proposed by the Latvian designer, and third - Raccoon Rimi (3.45) by Maria Mukhina and Tatyana Schwarzkopf (AIDA Pioneer agency). The difference in the results of the jury's voting turned out to be quite small.

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At the same time, the hedgehog is one of the most popular characters in the mythology of Belarus and Latvia. However, visual image of all the hedgehogs presented in the competition was characterized by a lack of dynamics, energy, the embodiment of the idea of ​​the unity of many nationalities in commitment to their favorite sport - hockey. By the way, the same idea was previously reflected in the slogan of the 2021 World Cup - "Passion. No Borders" (Passion without Borders), and in its logo, which contains the colors of the national flags of all the participating countries of the tournament. According to the graphic aspect, an absolute leader in the jury's opinion was Raccoon Gulyaka. For that reason, it was decided to try to compile both ideas so that the final version incorporates all the best from the most popular works among the jury. Refine the image was proposed to the winner of the competition for the development of mascot - the creative agency DAB, whose work was filled with the determination and audacity proper to professional athletes. The result of this improvement is Spiky the Hedgehog, that was presented as the official mascot of the IIHF 2021 Ice Hockey World Championship.

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"The mascot of the 2021 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship will become a symbol of Belarus and Latvia, a symbol of hockey, that’s why we were looking for something common, created a story and made the character vibrant," director of the DAB creative agency Nikita Ustinovich said. "We wanted the character to become a favourite of all hockey fans but also those who normally don’t follow hockey. The hedgehog is our hero. Comparing its character and qualities with ice hockey, we realized that the image of the hedgehog represents both of our national teams very well: hardworking, fast, agile, capable of standing up to the opponent at the ice rink when needed."

The story of the mascot.

Hedgehog is one of the most common animals in the world. Moreover, it is very smart and savvy, and everyone can envy the speed of its reaction. And even though the hero is not big, it always fights to the end, using not only needles, but also sharp teeth. And that is what the Belarusian and Latvian hockey teams are famous for: their obstinacy, their willingness to fight for the victory until the final buzzer.

Belarus and Latvia were awarded the right to co-host the 2021 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship at the IIHF Annual Congress in May 2017. The event will be hosted from 7 to 23 May 2021 in the capitals of both countries.

Source:hockey.by

Photo: hockey.by,  Denis Kostyuchenko


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