Blink-182 are finally back together but it seems their first reunion was canceled. Colorado Avalanche finally hung a Stanley Cup banner in Denver. Wednesday’s win put an end to the trophy drought, with the team raising the third championship banner in franchise history at Ball Arena ahead of the Avs’ 5-2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks. Blink-182 had made its presence felt.
Blink-182 had planned reunion during Game 5
The band bassist and singer Mark Hoppus said he did not get a chance to watch the Avalanche’s entire playoff run. But he was able to watch Game 6 when they clinched the title against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
“We tried to come out at one point during the Stanley Cup finals and our plane had mechanical issues and we weren’t able to take off,” said Hoppus, a day after the band announced it was reuniting and going to release a new album.
A few months later, it all worked out. NHL chief content officer Steve Mayer told ESPN on Wednesday that it was an easy decision for the league to reach out to Blink-182 after seeing how much of a connection that Avalanche fans had with the song. Mayer said the league had a previous relationship with the band, and that it was instantly on board until the travel issues paused the plans.
It has come to light that originally, Travis Barker, Tom DeLonge and Hoppus were to all fly to Denver for Game 5 and lead the crowd in singing the song — similar to what Hoppus did Wednesday.
“We then got a phone call that afternoon they were all on the plane, but the plane was having mechanical difficulties,” Mayer said. “We tried desperately to find another plane. As it turned out, we could not find one. We hadn’t announced it. But we were so bummed. We were so upset.”
There was a plan, however, to have Blink-182 try again if there was a Game 7. Once that wasn’t in the cards, the strategy turned to the opener. Mayer, in fact, said Blink-182 reached back out to see if there was a way it could do something in the fall.
“It turned out today not all the band members could be here,” Mayer said. “But Mark is the biggest advocate of the song. … When we reached out, he wanted to do it. It turned out to be a really cool moment.”
