Toronto, Ontario — It’s safe to say that a friend of the NHL is a friend of the Canadian collision repair industry, and PPG has announced that they have extended their official friendship with the league for another three years.
As the official sponsor of the NHL, PPG will play a part in presenting this year’s 2023 Discover NHL Winter Classic, which will see the Pittsburgh Penguins square off against the Boston Bruins at Fenway Park on Jan. 2, 2023.
The company says its logo will be featured prominently on stadium signage and the boards of the rink on game day, as well as during this year’s playoff season, as per this new agreement between the league and PPG.
“We’re proud to combine the power of the NHL with PPG and its well-known consumer paint brands, including PPG PAINTS, DULUX paint, SICO paint, GLIDDEN paint and OLYMPIC stains,” said PPG’s chief of communications and government affairs officer, Bryan Iams.
“Through the partnership extension, PPG will continue to identify new ways to integrate its paints, coatings and specialty materials into the game of hockey, including at premier events such as the 2023 Discover NHL Winter Classic.”
Extending far beyond a surface level sponsorship deal, PPG has actually worked with the NHL to advance aspects of the sport in the past.
For example, in 2019 when the previous three-year sponsorship cycle was at its beginning, PPG worked with its suppliers to develop a coating for hockey pucks that would give a visual indication if a puck’s temperature is above freezing and needs to be replaced.
In fact, the NHL has been coating its pucks with PPG products since 2017, as the very same powder coating technology that the company uses for chip protection on vehicle underbodies is also used to protect hockey nets from the impact of pucks.
PPG estimates that the league goes through about 60,000 of their coated pucks every season.
