Brad Marchand Sticks Pin In Blizzard-Gate, Reveals What He Was Really Eating Between Periods

The Eastern Conference Finals has been so all-Florida Panthers that one of the biggest storylines going into a do-or-die Game 4 for the Carolina Hurricanes was whether Panthers forward Brad Marchand ate a Dairy Queen Blizzard between periods of Game 3.

After going up in the series 3-0, Marchand was asked if he had been housing one of the iconic ice cream treats after he was seen eating something with a spoon.

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The question didn't come completely out of nowhere, though, as Marchand and several teammates stopped into a DQ in Raleigh between Games 1 and 2, and Marchand said that, indeed, he was eating a chocolate chip cookie dough Blizzard.

Marchand played into the rumors that he was eating a Blizzard, but I had my suspicions. Not because it'd be odd for a top-level athlete in the middle of the playoffs to crush desserts mid-game, but because of what he was using to eat it.

Now, I don't mean to go all Zapruder film on this, but did you notice what kind of spoon Marchand was using? Just a regular, metal spoon.

However, everyone knows that Blizzards are traditionally accompanied by a red plastic spoon, and nobody passes that up because it's part of the Blizzard experience as much as when they do that neat little party trick where they flip it upside down just to prove to the naysayers that, yes, it is indeed that thick.

To me, that was what you call a "tell," and on Monday after the Panthers' morning skate ahead of Game 4, Marchand revealed that he was just playing along and that he had just eaten a spoonful of honey, which is still kind of an unusual thing to eat mid-game.

"It was honey. I was having honey," Marchand said per Sportsnet. "It was a spoonful of honey.

"The amount of messages I got about people going to Dairy Queen yesterday, I appreciate the support," Marchand said. "I love a good Blizzard, more than anybody. But it's not something I've had in the middle of a game — yet. Yet. Yet."

Alright, if Brad Marchand isn't starring in some DQ commercials next season, they need to reassess their marketing strategy.