Prince once promoted 1996 Stanley Cup Playoffs (Video)

Prince died at 57 on Thursday, which has us supremely bummed out to be honest.

While his most famous sports connection – besides his accomplishments as a high-school junior basketball star – was the single greatest Super Bowl halftime show in the history of the Super Bowl or halftime shows, Prince actually had a hockey moment too.

Well, besides producing a killer line of New Power Generation jerseys:

This is a Stanley Cup Playoffs commercial from the NHL’s 1996 campaign, and true to form the League used a song from 12 years ago to promote it. But what a commercial! Pavel Bure! Jim Belushi! A lot, and we mean a lot, of 1990s hair!

From Ad Age in 1996, on the four-week, multimillion-dollar ad campaign built around a Prince song:

The slogan will be introduced to consumers this week with TV and radio commercials from NHL Productions featuring the Prince song "Let's Go Crazy."

The TV spot will run during the time the NHL is allotted on ESPN and Fox broadcasts; radio commercials will air in all dayparts on Westwood One's syndicated radio network. More spots will break later this spring and team-specific spots will get time on local broadcasts and in arenas.

The NHL previously crafted such integrated marketing campaigns to open its seasons, using slogans like "Game One."

"With ‘Get Cup Crazy' we complete the circle that begins with ‘Game One,’ moves into our all-star game break and now ends with this," said Rick Dudley, president, NHL Enterprises.

"Playoff time is the special time of year for all sports when we see peak activity from our business partners," he added. "Our goal was to give our time a rallying cry."

RIP, Prince. Here’s how his local hockey team remembered him:

OK, now wear those NPG sweaters for Game 5.

--

Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.

MORE FROM YAHOO HOCKEY