Each sports team has that one person who always seems to go above and beyond in showing his or her support for the guys on the field. The Toronto Maple Leafs discovered their man during the 2017 Eastern Conference playoffs.
Now, Dart Guy, who achieved fame—and maybe his Twitter verification — from a Verizon Center camera sighting, has offered fans a chance to win a 3D-printed bust of his iconic look in exchange for a donation to his campaign for Road Hockey to Conquer Cancer, according to NHL.com.
Road Hockey to Conquer Cancer is a national effort in Canada featuring road hockey games among 150 teams, along with celebrity appearances, musical acts, and fan contests. This year’s event runs from dawn to dusk on Sept. 23 at Toronto’s Woodbine Racetrack.
Dart Guy, whose real name is Jason Maslakow, was pictured at that fateful game sporting a Mohawk with “Go Leafs Go” scrawled in blue across the back of his head and an unlit cigarette dangling from his lips, the NHL reported. His beard was painted blue and his face showed the team’s maple leaf logo.
He has taken advantage of that look, and also of the help of Brendan Shanahan, the Maple Leafs president who guided him towards quitting smoking, to raise money for the Road Hockey effort, which donates its proceeds to the Princess Margaret Cancer Center. So far, Maslakow has raised $5,702.50 of his $10,000 goal.
“Throughout my time thus far as Dart Guy I have been extremely fortunate and blessed to have experienced some amazing things while feeling the love and admiration of an entire nation and beyond,” Maslakow wrote on his campaign page. “These experiences led me to accepting Todd Shapiro’s heartfelt challenge to quit smoking and inspired an overwhelming desire to pay my good fortune forward.”
The Todd Shapiro he mentions, and whose team he has raised money for and will play for in the event, is a well-known Canadian radio show host who originally challenged Maslakow to quit smoking, Maslakow wrote.
So, with an unlit cigarette part of his get-up, and with no intention to light it, Dart Guy has made a name for himself throughout the NHL and the internet. And he’s made a lasting bust of himself that two fans will get to show off, and everyone else will be left, perhaps, to covet.