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Greg Wyshynski, ESPN
When the Anaheim Ducks celebrate a win on the ice this season, there’s a more bizarre celebration happening on social media: a duck triumphantly slamming its webbed feet on a drum, in a room filled with team memorabilia.
Did we mention this duck’s name is Ben Afquack?
Ben Afquack is drummin’ his way to the closest honky tonk on Broadway! #FlyTogether pic.twitter.com/QbRDMU4viR
— Anaheim Ducks (@AnaheimDucks) January 10, 2024
“After a win, we’re trying to capitalize on all the good feelings, good emotions, good vibes,” said Tyler Pistoia, the digital content producer for Anaheim. “The duck is a fantastic way to, pardon the pun, drum up more positivity. ‘Hey we got the win. Oh, Ben Afquack is here, let’s go!’ The rallying cry for wins is that little guy.”
Pistoia learned about the drumming duck from Sarah Montecinos, assistant manager for entertainment and production for Anaheim. She saw the fowl dancing on Instagram and noticed that he had almost 100,000 followers.
The first thing that struck Pistoia is that the duck had “fitness model” in his bio. The second was that this dancing duck had worked with sports teams, but never one in hockey.
The first team Ben Afquack partnered with was Minnesota Aurora FC, a community-owned club playing in the USL W League. He appeared in a video in which he kicked a mini soccer ball. Then the St. Paul Saints, the minor league affiliate of the Minnesota Twins, wanted a piece of the duck. But Derek Johnson, keeper of Ben Afquack, was blown away when the Ducks called on him.
“Growing up in Minnesota, I am a lifelong hockey fan, so receiving a message from an NHL team was surreal,” Johnson said. “I immediately took a screenshot of the message and sent it to friends and family, before I even replied to the message. I was very excited to work with the Ducks — even though I am a Minnesota Wild fan.”
Pistoia had a clear vision for Ben Afquack: Have Johnson film him banging a victory drum with his tiny webbed feet, and then post it on social media after Anaheim victories. But it had to look right. So Pistoia and Montecinos went on a shopping spree at the Anaheim team store for memorabilia that could be used in the video, which included dressing up the duck like a Duck.
“A jersey wouldn’t have made sense because the arms don’t go anywhere. So we figured, OK, we’ll get the Duck a bandana, we’ll get him a bunch of those pennants, we’ll get some stuff to put behind the drum, and we’ll get Derek the guy to put on a jersey — even though I don’t think we’d see the jersey because it’s just his hand holding the duck,” Pistoia said.
Johnson filmed around four different versions of the duck dancing on the drum. The team edited the video down to nine seconds, and a meme was born.
“We posted it and the response was through the roof. It does incredible numbers for us,” Pistoia said. “I get it, right? It’s a duck hitting a drum. You wouldn’t think that’s overly compelling, but it certainly has resonated with our fans, who are like, ‘I would die for this duck.'”
After victories, the team posts the clip on X and occasionally on Instagram, tailoring the post to whichever team the Ducks just defeated.
One of Pistoia’s goals is to bring the Internet meme into reality, hoping that Ben Afquack could make an appearance when the Ducks travel to play the Wild this season. Pistoia would also be interested in having Johnson and his drumming duck fly west for an Anaheim home game at some point.
“A live duck in a sporting arena, as you can imagine, might be a challenge,” Pistoia said. “But there was a crocodile at a Flyers game recently, so who knows?”