In 2017, an Saturday Night Live sketch called “Sports Announcer” featured Chance the Rapper as a New York Knicks reporter for MSG Network named Lazlo Holmes. The conceit of the sketch is that Holmes, who knows nothing about hockey is forced to cover the New York Rangers for a night.
People all over the country started repeating Holmes’s catchphrase, “Let’s do that hockey” as the sketch went viral. It has garnered more than 5 million views on YouTube to date.
NHL Chief Content Officer Steve Mayer was impressed and used the 2019 NHL player media tour as a chance to bring the character directly to hockey fans. The media tour was in Chance the Rapper’s hometown of Chicago. Mayer enlisted the help of SNL writers to bring the tone of the original sketch to interviews with real NHL players.
“‘Let’s Do That Hockey’ entered the hockey lexicon immediately,” Mayer told Front Office Sports. “We knew we had to try to capture some of the excitement that was built by that skit.”
Interviews with multiple players were recorded at the event. Six of them have been released so far, and again, Lazlo Holmes is a viral star. Combined the videos have generated 5.7 million views to date.
Some of the league’s biggest stars like Devils defenseman PK Subban and Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist have participated in the videos. Reaction from fans has been mixed, but Mayer says the players enjoyed being a part of them and the league is happy with with the results to date because the videos “showcase how human our players are, and that they like to have fun.”
“These are the kind of things in the sports world that can cut through some of the tonnages in terms of content that is being put out and get people to talk about it and comment on it. Anyone can put out an interview with Auston Matthews, but how many can do it with Lazlo Holmes interviewing him?”
