The Springfield Thunderbirds this week unveiled the Springfield Ice-O-Topes identity for a What If Night? promotion, an announcement that coincided with the 30th anniversary of The Simpsons.
Of course, in the television series, the Isotopes (or Ice-O-Topes) moniker is synonymous with countless baseball and hockey-themed episodes over the course of the show’s four-decade run.
While “Thunderbirds” ended up being the winning name in June of 2016, it should be noted that Isotopes was one of the top challengers in the naming’s final days.
So, for one week – from Jan. 27 until the “What If? Night” game against the Hartford Wolf Pack on Saturday, Feb. 1 – the Thunderbirds will find out once and for all what it would be like if the team had been named the Ice-O-Topes. Not only will the team wear the pictured specialty jerseys, but all components of the organizational operation will adopt the Ice-O-Topes brand for the duration of the week.
A closer look at the Ice-O-Topes uniform, via the team’s Twitter account:
What if your favorite hometown hockey team was called the Springfield Ice-O-Topes? What if, on February 1st, the T-Birds become the Springfield Ice-O-Topes for one day only? Happy 30th Anniversary #TheSimpsons To learn more and purchase tickets 🎟️>> https://t.co/ybchXe1cbi pic.twitter.com/99ldbQwTCm
— Springfield T-Birds (@ThunderbirdsAHL) December 17, 2019
What If? Nights have become fairly common promotions around professional sports, particularly Minor League Baseball, giving teams a chance to host interesting revisionist theme nights. With the Ice-O-Topes identity, the Thunderbirds also tap into a connection to The Simpsons, which should make the promotion all the more notable.
