By now, you may have seen the photo, now effectively a meme, of Philadelphia Flyers rookie Porter Martone rocking a suit and large fedora. According to Martone, there is a story behind it all.
Back on April 3, Forty-Five Social, a menswear shop in Sault-Ste Marie, Ontario, posted the photo of Martone with a message congratulating him on his first NHL point.
"Throwback to 2022 when @portermartone94 stopped in at Forty-Five Social to gear up for his OHL debut. Fast forward to today — we’re beyond proud to congratulate you on the call up and on earning your first NHL point!" the caption read.
"The whole Forty-Five Social family is cheering you on. Keep flying, Porter — this is only the beginning."
The Philadelphia Flyers' social media team, doing the hard-hitting work, got to the bottom of the full backstory and had Martone elaborate on the fan-favorite photo.
"This photo is from, like, five years ago," a surprised Martone said with a smile. "Well, I was in Sault-Ste Marie, where my dad is from, we were up there in the summer. His best friend owns a suit store. I was going to the OHL for my first year, so I needed to get some suits. So, my mom decided to take a photo of me with that hat on.
"Our parents' best friends own the store, and then they posted it five years later, which is pretty crazy. . . I've seen it online. Some of my buddies sent it to me."
For those hoping to see more of the hat on the budding Flyers star, we have bad news.
"I didn't even get the hat, that's the thing. I just tried on things, and somehow that photo got taken," Martone said.
Whatever the case may be, the hat photo appears to have been good luck for the 19-year-old.
Martone has been dominant, recording a point in every Flyers game he's played in since the post was made on April 3, scoring his first four NHL goals and nine points in those six games.