“Dart Guy” is the only hockey champion Toronto needs

The Maple Leafs won Saturday night’s playoff game against the Washington Capitals, but the evening’s real success story was Jason Maslakow, a Waterloo-based fan who travelled to Washington, D.C. for the game, donned a jersey and full face paint, dyed his beard blue, and shaved an outline of the Stanley Cup onto his scalp. The ridiculous getup may not have been enough, in itself, to rocket Maslakow to internet fame—but, as luck would have it, when the camera panned over to him during the game broadcast, he happened to have an unlit cigarette dangling from his lip. Within minutes, he had a new name, “Dart Guy,” and a Twitter meme was born.

Dart Guy is now an unofficial playoff mascot, of sorts. He’ll even be attending Game 3 as a guest of the team. Here’s what people were saying about him:

Some fans immediately seized on Dart Guy’s passing resemblance to a certain former Toronto mayor. (We don’t see it, though.)

Others raced to be the first to photoshop his face onto the $5 bill. The colours work:

Truly, Dart Guy was an Easter miracle:

Still not as bad as the Ted Rogers statue at Rogers Centre:

It’s not totally clear whether Dart Guy should be offended to be associated with Mel Gibson, or vice versa:

Did MLSE miss a marketing opportunity here?

Just think of the merchandising possibilities. Free cigarettes for all the kids!

Of course, it was only a matter of hours before the Dart Guy backlash began:

Some began to wonder if Dart Guy’s festive face paint conceals any dark secrets:

Probably not, though:

So much attention was paid to Dart Guy’s face that it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that his mohawk is shaped like the Stanley Cup:

A parting thought: