A bear called Macejko will be the official mascot of the Ice Hockey World Championship (IIHF) 2019 in Slovakia. The bear, who wears a traditional shepherd’s belt and hat, got its name in an internet vote on the official Facebook page of the championship, the Sme daily wrote on August 28.
It took twelve days to find the name for the bear, and in the first phase, a total of 450,000 people were involved, and in the second phase, they voted for one of the two short-listed proposals (the impact of more than 210,000 fans). In the second round, almost 11,000 people gave their direct vote on Facebook, the TASR newswire wrote.
The championship will take place between May 10 and 26, in two Slovak cities – Bratislava and Košice.
How did Macejko come to win?
A total of 7,169 people voted for Macejko, with the other option, Juro, receiving 3,577 votes. The creator of the name for the mascot is Matej Drinka of Borský Svätý Mikuláš, who participated in the competition announced in mid-August. Apart from Macejko and Juro, there were a total of 1,200 proposals from people for the mascot’s name, according to TASR.
“We are glad to have found the name for our mascot together," head of the IIHC World Championship organisation committee, Igor Nemeček, informed TASR. “This was the most acceptable way of selecting a name, since the most competent fans decided on it.”
