Trotz Visit, Kings’ Ukrainian Night Goes Viral Again

Submitted by Dauphin Kings

DAUPHIN, MB – Barry Trotz’s visit to the City of Sunshine over the weekend is gaining some national and international attention.

Trotz joined friends and family at Credit Union Place on Saturday for Ukrainian Night and before the game he went into the Kings dressing room to do the starting lineup ahead of the contest against the Portage Terriers.

The video of Trotz in the Kings room has since exploded online with names like TSN, the New York Islanders and Hockey Insider Darren Dreger tweeting about the special moment. As of Monday morning it has over 325,000 views on Twitter.

“It was talked about a little before the game and when we asked Barry he was really accommodating towards it” says Kings Director of Marketing & Media Relations Christian Laughland.

“I took Barry down to our coaches office before the game and he sat and chatted with Doug and Mitch for a bit then went into the room to announce the starting lineup. We didn’t tell our players he was coming, so obviously they were caught off guard a little” added Laughland. “The video getting the exposure on social media is key for both our organization and the Manitoba Junior Hockey League and we are very thankful for what Barry did.”

Following the speech in the dressing room Trotz then went on to do the ceremonial face off at centre ice before the game, and said a few words to the people that were in attendance Saturday night. Instead of dropping a puck Trotz dropped two rings of Kubassa, which was given to each team. VIEW VIDEO HERE.

“We also gave Barry his own Ukrainian jersey with his name in Ukrainian on the back so he would always remember the evening” Laughland added. “We also can’t forget that a lot of this would not have been possible without our great sponsors including Ryan Rauliuk and Ruff’s Furniture. Ryan has been a Kings fan and supporter for a long time and is a critical cog in the Ukrainian Night machine. We can’t thank him, his family and his staff enough for all that they have done over the past four years when it comes to establishing this event as one of the best nights across the country in Junior A hockey. We look forward to planning next season’s festivities.”

After the ceremonies Trotz enjoyed the game with family and friends before heading to Winnipeg and eventually back to New York on Sunday to help the Islanders with their playoff push.

View more images on the Dauphin Kings web site.