PWHL Ottawa performs the "viking thunder clap" with their fans following their first home win at TD Place Arena in Ottawa on January 23, 2024 Teams saluting crowds following home wins has become a norm in hockey. Often teams will cluster at center ice and raise their sticks to the crowd in thanks for their support. Internationally, Team Canada can be seen lining up perpendicular to the red line, raising their sticks to one side of the rink before spinning to raise their stick and tap the ice toward the other side in gesture that combines a stick wave with a bow to their fans. Last night in Ottawa, the "viking thunder clap" became the newest gesture to enter the women's hockey world, as PWHL Ottawa employed the overhead clap with their fans. The idea, according to netminder Emerance Maschmeyer, came from Czech defender Aneta Tejralova. "We should do something fun in Ottawa. And we're like, Yeah, let's do it," Maschmeyer told Alex Adams of The Hockey News. The team didn't wait for their first home win, a 3-1 decision over PWHL Toronto [https://thehockeynews.com/womens/pwhl/ottawa-guts-out-a-win-over-toronto-in-front-of-a-large-home-crowd], to break out the "viking thunder clap." Instead they even practiced the celebration. "So we actually had a practice a few weeks back now, where we practice that celebration," said Maschmeyer. The viking thunder clap has been used by a number of professional and international sports teams, but is most closely associated with Iceland's national soccer team. The celebration has emerged at times in hockey, including in a send off for Henrik and Daniel Sedin by the NHL's Vancouver Canucks in 2018, and in an adaptation known as the "storm surge" by the Carolina Hurricanes that same year.
