The “Lucky Loonie” tradition is something that Canadian hockey fans know well.
It all began at the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City when a Canadian ice crew sneakily placed a loonie, Canada’s one dollar coin that sports a loon, under the surface at centre ice. It was Trent Evans who placed the loonie for good luck, and it was faintly visible during the Games, but only really to those that knew it was there.
Canada won gold, and the lucky loonie became somewhat of a Canadian icon. It currently is housed at the Hockey Hall of Fame, but other loonies have made their way into Canadian events now too. At the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games, there were loonies buried beneath facilities across the games – a Games that Canada won a record 14 gold medals on home soil.
Now the tradition has made its way into the basketball world, with Scotiabank Arena crew members placing a lucky loonie under centre court.
For those wondering why they would remove it with the NBA Finals around the corner, and with home court advantage at that, there is a reason. It has been decided that the Twenty One Pilots will not be needing any luck at their concert, but the Arena crew has said that they will be keeping the loonie safe.
For now, we’ll just refer to it as the buck that bucked the Bucks.
(H/T u/Glennwith1n)
