Brad Marchand’s intermission eating has been the talk of the NHL for the past couple of days. At first, he claimed it was Dairy Queen, but now the truth has been revealed—and it’s one of the funniest quotes of the season from the Florida veteran.
Brad Marchand just has a way of always ending up at the center of attention. That’s been the case for years, and it hasn’t changed since he was traded to the Florida Panthers earlier this season. He’s been a key figure in the Panthers’ deep playoff run this year, with the team looking to win back-to-back Stanley Cups. But as tends to be the case with Marchand, it’s not always just about hockey.
During the second intermission of Game 3 in the Conference Final between Florida and the Carolina Hurricanes, Marchand was seen licking a spoon while getting ready for third-period action. A few days earlier, Marchand had taken some of his teammates to Dairy Queen in Raleigh, and after Game 3, he was asked if it, by any chance, was a Dairy Queen Blizzard he was enjoying. And Marchand was quick to play along.
“That’s a little chocolate chip cookie dough Blizzard right there,” Marchand said. “You can’t beat it. It’s the best dessert in the world. So I’d better get a lifetime free supply of Dairy Queen now.”
Brad Marchand on what he ate
But Marchand didn’t expect his quotes to be taken so seriously. Now, he’s come out saying that it, in fact, wasn’t Dairy Queen.
“I was making a joke compared to our excursion from a couple nights before,” Marchand told The Athletic. “I think people took it seriously. The amount of messages I got about people going to Dairy Queen (on Sunday) — and I appreciate the support; I love a good Blizzard more than anybody — but it’s not something I’ve had in the middle of the game.”
Marchand wants to make it clear that he’s too professional to eat Dairy Queen—or something like peanut butter—during a game.
“It wasn’t peanut butter,” Marchand said. “I’m not eating peanut butter in the middle of a game. It wasn’t peanut butter, but it wasn’t a Blizzard. I would not eat a Blizzard in the middle of a game, I’ll tell you that right now.”
And then Marchand, with one of the best quotes of the 2024–25 NHL season, revealed what it really was—solving one of the biggest mysteries of the playoffs.
“It was honey. I was having honey. It was a spoonful of honey. Because I’m a bear,” Marchand said. “I’ve always loved honey. Actually, when I was growing up, I loved Winnie the Pooh, so I used to have a Winnie the Pooh bear and I would feed the bear honey.
“So it was covered in rock-hard honey. I don’t think (my parents) enjoyed cleaning up the mess. But it’s what we do in Halifax. We feed teddy bears honey.”
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