Mascots are meant to be fun, while still being cool in a sense. There's nothing cooler in hockey than a regular old puck, and that's who takes our number one spot on the top mascots list.
College hockey is full of traditions, rivalries, and passionate fanbases, but every program also has its own personality. In this five-part series, we'll count down the five best mascots in college hockey, looking at their appearance, history, personality, and how well they fit the programs they represent. At No.onewe have the most hockey mascot you could ever find: RPI Puckman
Some mascots represent a school. Some represent a city. And then there's Puckman, a mascot that feels like he was created specifically for college hockey.
That's what makes RPI's Puckman the No. 1 mascot in our countdown.
The first thing that makes Puckman stand out is his look. As the name suggests, he's essentially a giant hockey puck brought to life. With his distinctive puck-shaped body, arms, legs, and expressive face, Puckman is impossible to confuse with a traditional animal mascot. He doesn't need a complicated backstory or an intimidating design. You see him once and immediately know what he's supposed to represent.
Hockey.
Puckman fits perfectly with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's hockey identity, giving the Engineers a mascot that feels completely connected to the sport. While plenty of schools have bears, bulldogs, eagles, or other animals, RPI has a giant hockey puck running around the rink.
How awesome is that?
The mascot also represents a program with an enormous amount of history. RPI's men's hockey program dates back to 1901, making it one of the oldest college hockey programs in the United States. The Engineers have won two NCAA championships, in 1954 and 1985, and have long been one of the most recognizable programs in the ECAC.
There's something very fun about a giant hockey puck getting involved with the crowd.
Puckman also feels like a mascot that could only exist in college hockey. You wouldn't see a professional sports team walking around with a giant football as its mascot in quite the same way. At the college level, though, that kind of creativity fits perfectly.
After looking at mascots with long histories, fierce animals, and plenty of personality, Puckman wins because he gets straight to the heart of the sport.
