Published by Michael Keeley, Maine Mariners Media Relations and Broadcast Manager
It's the summer of 2017 and word has recently come down that professional hockey is returning to Portland, Maine in the form of an ECHL franchise. Fans are mostly just happy to have hockey back two seasons after the Portland Pirates packed up and left for Springfield, but a team can only go so long without a name. Soon enough, PortlandMaineHockey.com is created, allowing fans to openly submit ideas for the name of their newest favorite hockey team. And so began the phenomenon that would be the Maine Wild Blueberries.
In mid-August, five finalists were announced after nearly 4,000 creative submissions: Mariners, Wild Blueberries, Puffins, Lumberjacks, and Watchmen. As polling began to narrow it down to one, two names quickly pulled to a clear lead: Mariners and Wild Blueberries. The Mariners held the historical and nostalgic significance - Maine's first professional hockey team (and three time champion) from the late 1970s and 1980s. The Wild Blueberries fell in the "quirky but popular" cult-following realm, but provided an interesting angle to the race for the naming rights. Waves were being made outside of Portland, with Reddit even leading the voting charge on behalf of the Blueberries. Puck Daddy's Yahoo blog also picked up on it. Sports Illustrated even gave a shout out.
On September 29th, 2017 at a press conference with the Boys & Girls Club of Portland, "Mariners" was announced as the winning name. It was revealed that the Wild Blueberries were a close 2nd, with Watchmen, Puffins, and Lumberjacks trailing behind not as competitively. Although it was decided - the team was going to be the Maine Mariners, the "losing side" wasn't going to go down that easily. The Wild Blueberries continued to hold traction.
Big Room Studios - the Portland-based creative technology company which created the new Mariners logo and eventually helped craft Beacon, took it upon themselves to mock up a Wild Blueberries logo. This only helped the popularity of the cause and soon enough the date was set: for one night, the Maine Wild Blueberries would come to life.
So what exactly makes a "wild" blueberry different than a regular blueberry? According to wildblueberries.com:
"Unlike cultivated (highbush) blueberries, Wild (lowbush) Blueberries are not planted. They are spread primarily by rhizomes or underground runners, which give rise to new shoots and stems. Wild Blueberry fields and barrens contain many different varieties of berries, which accounts for the variations in size and color that characterize the Wild Blueberry crop. Wild Blueberry growers use many modern crop management techniques to carefully tend their fields and encourage growth."
The site also adds that antioxidant capacity, taste, size, and performance are what makes wild blueberries stand out from their boring "regular" blueberry brothers and sisters. Maine is the only place in the U.S. that wild blueberries and cultivated, with Atlantic Canada and Quebec being the other two spots. Maine is the largest producer of the three and is itself is responsible for 10% of all blueberry production in North America. Bottom line: even if "Wild Blueberries" is an unorthodox name for a pro hockey team. It would have made sense.
It all came to a head on March 9th as the Mariners left the blue and green behind in favor or blue - and more blue. Nearly 5,000 people packed the Cross Insurance Arena to take a trip to an alternate dimension, with Wild Blueberries apparel flying off the shelves long before the game itself. Although the Blueberries went down in OT to the South Carolina Stingrays, the night was a true culmination of a cultivation - the realization of an idea that was not quite perfect enough for a full season, but just perfect enough for one night. A continuation of a tribute by a team to its birthplace. A celebration of Maine and one of the many attributes that makes it special.
Somehow I doubt that the Maine Wild Blueberries are squashed forever.
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| The captain of the Wild Bluerries, Zach Tolkinen |
It's the summer of 2017 and word has recently come down that professional hockey is returning to Portland, Maine in the form of an ECHL franchise. Fans are mostly just happy to have hockey back two seasons after the Portland Pirates packed up and left for Springfield, but a team can only go so long without a name. Soon enough, PortlandMaineHockey.com is created, allowing fans to openly submit ideas for the name of their newest favorite hockey team. And so began the phenomenon that would be the Maine Wild Blueberries.
 |
| "Puffins" was one of the final five name choices. The creation of Beacon was partly a nod to it. |
In mid-August, five finalists were announced after nearly 4,000 creative submissions: Mariners, Wild Blueberries, Puffins, Lumberjacks, and Watchmen. As polling began to narrow it down to one, two names quickly pulled to a clear lead: Mariners and Wild Blueberries. The Mariners held the historical and nostalgic significance - Maine's first professional hockey team (and three time champion) from the late 1970s and 1980s. The Wild Blueberries fell in the "quirky but popular" cult-following realm, but provided an interesting angle to the race for the naming rights. Waves were being made outside of Portland, with Reddit even leading the voting charge on behalf of the Blueberries. Puck Daddy's Yahoo blog also picked up on it. Sports Illustrated even gave a shout out.
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| The title image on the Reddit post that was one of many mainstream mentions of the Wild Blueberries. |
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| Mariners governor and Flyers president Paul Holmgren speaks at the name announcement on 9/27/17. Photo credit: Portland Press Herald |
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| Big Room Studios came up with one of the best logos ever for a team that wasn't. |
"Unlike cultivated (highbush) blueberries, Wild (lowbush) Blueberries are not planted. They are spread primarily by rhizomes or underground runners, which give rise to new shoots and stems. Wild Blueberry fields and barrens contain many different varieties of berries, which accounts for the variations in size and color that characterize the Wild Blueberry crop. Wild Blueberry growers use many modern crop management techniques to carefully tend their fields and encourage growth."
The site also adds that antioxidant capacity, taste, size, and performance are what makes wild blueberries stand out from their boring "regular" blueberry brothers and sisters. Maine is the only place in the U.S. that wild blueberries and cultivated, with Atlantic Canada and Quebec being the other two spots. Maine is the largest producer of the three and is itself is responsible for 10% of all blueberry production in North America. Bottom line: even if "Wild Blueberries" is an unorthodox name for a pro hockey team. It would have made sense.
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| Take a walk on the wild side. |
It all came to a head on March 9th as the Mariners left the blue and green behind in favor or blue - and more blue. Nearly 5,000 people packed the Cross Insurance Arena to take a trip to an alternate dimension, with Wild Blueberries apparel flying off the shelves long before the game itself. Although the Blueberries went down in OT to the South Carolina Stingrays, the night was a true culmination of a cultivation - the realization of an idea that was not quite perfect enough for a full season, but just perfect enough for one night. A continuation of a tribute by a team to its birthplace. A celebration of Maine and one of the many attributes that makes it special.
Somehow I doubt that the Maine Wild Blueberries are squashed forever.
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