Give me a ‘G’, give me an ‘R’ …

Instagram campaign spells out confirmation new ECHL team in St. John’s will be nicknamed Growlers

It didn’t take Hercule Poirot, Sherlock Holmes, Miss Marple or Columbo to do the job. The services of the Constabulary, RCMP or the any of the CSI incarnations weren’t required.

All that was needed was a little common sense and the sharpness that comes from paying attention. Like that possessed by Instagram user gjmsince1981, who was among the first to who have sleuthed out more confirmation that the new ECHL team in St. John’s will be nicknamed the “Growlers.”

The Telegram reported last month that the full name will be the Newfoundland Growlers, surmised because of applications that have been made for domain names and U.S. trademarks based on that moniker.

And although the official word has been “no comment” on the matter, the team itself has now seemingly indicated Growlers will be the name. Here’s how.

Using a temporary domain name — prohockeyisback — the team this week began using Instagram posts in a lead-up/ tease campaign prior to the announcements of the name, logo, and team colours. Given that the posts are numbered — Monday’s was 8, this Tuesday’s was 7 and Wednesday’s was 6 — next Tuesday should be the date for the revelations.

The first post was an archive picture showing a man at the tiller of a boat with an iceberg in the background, accompanied by the caption “God knows we’re not afraid to brave the ice – we do it every May. “

The second was of the 1917 Newfoundland Regiment hockey team wearing jerseys featuring a caribou logo and the word “Newfoundland.” The caption for the latter was “Retreating from opponents, is simply not our way…”

The third came Wednesday, using a picture of Corner Brook native Darren Colbourne and former ECHL scoring star Darren Colbourne when he was playing for the ECHL’S Richmond Renegades. The caption in this case was “Over time, we’ve shattered records for total season scores ..” Perhaps you’ve figure it out. Take the first letter of the first word in each of the captions and you have “GRO”.

That pattern had gjmsince1981 stating “I’m willing to bet the next 5 posts start with W...L...E...R...S.”

Elementary.

INSTAGRAM/PROHOCKEYISBACK These are the photos that accompanied three recent Instagram posts by the new ECHL team that will be playing out of Mile One Centre in St. John’s this fall. The posts are part of a campaign by the team leading up to the official announcement of the...