The Winnipeg Whiteout meets The Hockey Guys

When Lawson McDonald started a YouTube channel several years ago, it was just a hobby.

McDonald grew up in Winkler playing junior hockey with his hometown Winkler Flyers. After junior, he spent two years playing college hockey at the University of Nebraska Omaha in the NCAA.

In his third year, McDonald was cut from the team and he decided to try out for the University of Wisconsin-Superior.

“If I was a better hockey player, none of this would have happened,” McDonald said, jokingly.

That’s where he met Austin Friesen, Martan Yelle, Levi Cudmore and former Flyers teammate Will Blake — who became The Hockey Guys.

The crew shot their first video during the COVID-19 pandemic. When it generated more than a million views, The Hockey Guys saw an opportunity.

“People had never really seen hockey players doing social media stuff,” said Friesen, The Hockey Guys’ social media co-ordinator, who was born in Winnipeg. “But we’re kind of changing that up a little bit and I think it caught fire pretty fast.”

Fast forward to now, The Hockey Guys are a TikTok sensation with more than 1.5 million followers and countless experiences including a trip to the White House, mini sticks at the Daytona 500 and their own Stanley Cup parade.

They landed in Winnipeg Friday, where the Jets have invited them to attend Games 1 and 2 of their series against the St. Louis Blues.

“That’s always been on my bucket list,” said McDonald about the group’s trip to Winnipeg. “It’s going to be really fun, I’m excited to be a part of it.”

Winnipeg is not the first NHL team to invite the group to attend. In fact, The Hockey Guys have worked with half of the NHL’s teams to date.

Before their final season at UW Superior, new opportunities emerged for The Hockey Guys brand when NCAA student athletes could finally profit off their name, image and likeness. This allowed The Hockey Guys to turn their exposure into cash.

That year, the group was invited by the NHL and Discover Card to the Winter Classic in Minneapolis. And once their season ended, The Hockey Guys went on a “Spring Break Tour,” visiting four hockey towns in seven days.

That spring break tour launched interest around the NHL, where The Hockey Guys were invited to rinks across the country. They worked with team mascots, or highlighted unique features about a team’s arena, or go-to spots before the game.

“That’s what the teams kind of recognized that we could do to provide value,” said Friesen. “Showing the fun experience at a game.”

The Hockey Guys success also attracted political attention, earning them an invitation to the White House to celebrate the Vegas Golden Knights Stanley Cup win in 2023.

Friesen said the crew received individual emails from the White House. At first, it seemed too good to be true.

“It said ‘dot gov,’ and we saw the White House stamp at the bottom of the email and were like, ‘OK, what the heck?’” said Friesen, noting the group were some of the first creators to ever be invited to the White House.

They were even congratulated by NHL commissioner Gary Bettman — perhaps, for the wrong reason, as Cudmore had been mistaken for a Vegas Golden Knight.

“That’s always been on my bucket list. It’s going to be really fun, I’m excited to be a part of it.”–Lawson McDonald

“(Bettman) went up to (Cudmore) and said like ‘good job,’ or ‘good to see you again,’ something like that,” said Friesen.

The Hockey Guys TikTok page is full of adventures like these. They skated in the Washington Capitals alumni game, played mini sticks against a pit crew minutes before the Daytona 500, attended Game 7 of last year’s Stanley Cup Finals and watched Team Canada win gold at the 4 Nations Face-Off.

Now, they get to bring that adventure to Winnipeg.

“I’m excited to show these guys the Whiteout… and how electric the city gets,” Friesen said.

As for a prediction, McDonald said he took the Jets to win the Stanley Cup in his playoff bracket.

Friesen took a more subtle approach.

“I’m a big, big Jets fan, so I’m going to be rooting for them all the way through, until June,” Friesen emphasized.