A staffer for a Russian hockey team is going viral on social media for stealing the show at a game hosted by Salavat Yulaev Ufa.
During a break in the action, a woman in the home team’s jersey skated into the rink and shoveled shaved ice near the goalpost into a bucket.
She then gracefully skated out of the rink as fans looked on and players returned from the bench to resume the game.
While her skating ability was impressive, fans took to social media to hail her impressive looks – questioning if what they’d seen was legitimate.
‘They really have this at hockey games?’ one user wrote.
Another commented: ‘I love hockey now.’
An ‘ice girl’ in the Russian hockey league is going viral on social media with 2.4million views
Ice girls are common in the NHL with the Dallas Stars’ program widely considered the best one
Several NHL teams began using ice girls after the Islanders broke the all-male tradition in 2000
‘Serious question… who is she? Asking for me,’ a third chimed in.
‘Prettier than most models nowadays,’ a fourth added.
Unlike the Russian league, NHL teams typically have male ice crews cleaning the surface during media time-outs.
However, several teams across the NHL have introduced ‘Ice Girls’ as a hybrid of surface cleaners and cheerleaders during games.
The NHL’s first Ice Girls team appeared in the 2000-01 season when the New York Islanders changed the traditional all-male ice team. The Dallas Stars embraced the new tradition by introducing their Ice Girls squad the following year.
Since then, teams such as the Anaheim Ducks, Calgary Flames, Chicago Blackhawks, and Colorado Avalanche joined the Ice Girl movement.
However, the Stars’ Ice Girl program is widely considered the best across the league.
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