from Dough Mollenauer of TheStreet,
Most companies don't like to see their names abused in public.
And yet Monday night's thrilling finale to the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs saw some of the best hockey players in the world jostle, push, and slam each other into dasher board advertisements for brands such as Honda, McDonald's, Coca-Cola and Verizon.
Players even smashed into dasher ads for Tim Hortons, the coffee and donut joint that's not well known in the U.S. but is considered a national treasure in Canada. The logo of its cross-border rival, Dunkin' Donuts, was only a few feet away, ready for the next pummeling.
Why would sponsors pay good money for such apparent mistreatment?
Because sponsors go where the fans are. And after a lockout that cut the regular season almost in half, record numbers of National Hockey League fans made a beeline to hockey arenas and high-definition television sets across North America.
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