Slovaks Vote for Name of Controversial Wolf Mascot for 2011 Ice Hockey World Championship
Bratislava, April 19, 2010 (BratislavaGuide.com) - Organisers of the 2011 Ice Hockey World Championship to be held in Bratislava and Košice have asked the Slovak public to help select the name for the wolf announced as the official mascot.
Over 13,000 proposed names were received by the organisers and Radio Expres running the contest. The following names have been published as the shortlist:
The public vote will select a winner from this shortlist. The winner is to be announced on April 29, 2010, exactly a year before the championship.
The organising committee announced in early April that the Slovak Ice Hockey Union approved a smiling wolf image by Swiss graphic designer Ralph Wedema. "Wolf is an animal that is typically Slovak, is connected with our forrests and nature," general director of the IIHF Championship Igor Nemeèek said in a press statement published by the news agency SITA.
But many Slovak commentators expressed dismay with this particular depiction of the wolf. Daily SME quoted a number of Slovak cartoonists and graphic designers in an article on April 17. "A presentation like this would not make it through the first year of graphic design study," SME caricaturist Shooty was quoted as saying. The article pointed out that Wedema, the author, was not well known and had no published portfolio available online.
Slovak humorists dubbed the animal the "Gyèura" wolf - from the Slovak translation of the word "kitsch" and claimed in jest it was authored by two siblings aged 9 and 12 (Nikolka and her brother Michal, who added the hockey stick).
Michal Muránsky, a blogger, called on the organising committee to come up with a nicer mascot. He demanded that the wolf's "drunkard smile" be dropped, his eyebrows be lowered to look more natural, a few teeth should be added and the Slovak national symbol be moved from the arm-pit.