Mercury Insurance and Anaheim Ducks Celebrate 'Community Champions'

Developing relationships and serving Southern Californians has helped build one of the Golden State's biggest insurance carriers

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 19, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Mercury Insurance (NYSE: MCY) is continuing its 60-year celebration of service to Southern California communities with its 2022-23 sponsorship of the Anaheim Ducks. This marks the eighth consecutive year the two have teamed up to give fans and policyholders unique experiences inside and outside of games. 

To mark the occasion, Anaheim Ducks players shared their "My First Game" experiences with fans to enjoy and relate to. Here's what some players had to say:

• "I think I was 8 or 9, and I was at a Yankees game. I was sitting high up, behind home plate and I remember just wanting to catch a baseball. I don't remember who was batting, but the ball eventually went over the net and hit me right in the leg, before another fan caught it. All my dad cared about was if I was ok, but all I could ask him was, 'Did we get the ball?'", said Trevor Zegras.
• "I remember when the World Junior Hockey Championships were hosted in Toronto and me, my brother, and two of our best friends got tickets to go to the Canada vs United States game for Christmas. It was really exciting and that was at the time when the World Juniors were always awesome to see, so that's definitely a game I'll remember forever," said Jamie Drysdale.
• "My first game was Detroit vs Edmonton, and I remember that was the first NHL game I had ever seen live. I remember seeing a player skating around the net before he got hit so hard by another player that he got hit into the boards. I thought, 'this is the biggest hit I've ever seen!'. Afterwards, the player who got hit laid on the ice for 10 minutes and I was shocked. The whole game was a really cool experience.", said Dmitry Kulikov.

"It's unbelievable to be a part of the passionate Anaheim Ducks community," said Erik Thompson, Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at Mercury Insurance. "Mercury has planned a special program this season to coincide with our 60 years of serving Southern California communities. We'll be honoring a 'Community Champion' at Ducks' home games so these unsung heroes are recognized for all the good work they do. We want them to know that Mercury appreciates them by giving each champion an incredible Ducks experience."

The Community Champion is a chance for Southern Californians to nominate a local hero to receive free tickets, dinner and merchandise for a Ducks home game. The first Community Champions are:

• Marco Carmona, who has been a committed and passionate volunteer at Latino Health Access (LHA) for over 4 years, was honored as Community Champion October 30. Carmona is a co-parenting single father who came across LHA when looking for activities for his young daughter. He not only found the activities he was looking for, but a support system and other community resources. He became very involved with LHA's Park and Community Center, Familias Corazones Verdes and has been upkeeping the space for families to enjoy as well as various activities put on by the park including many mini fundraisers and cultural events.
• Kerry Shubin, from the Anaheim Lady Ducks and Jr. Ducks programs, who was instrumental in the organization of the Lady Ducks and Jr. Ducks Breast Cancer Alumni skate fundraiser. A proud accomplishment of Shubin's was designing a team logo and apparel for players and families to wear in support of Breast Cancer awareness in the local hockey community. This is especially important with November being Hockey Fights Cancer month in the NHL, and Shubin is an advocate for cancer awareness and believes that anything people can do, big or small to support or help people affected by cancer will make an important difference in our community. She was honored as Community Champion November 6.

To nominate your Champion, simply tweet to @AnaheimDucks and explain why your nominee deserves the 'Community Champion' title and include #MercuryChampions.

"We're honored to team up with Mercury Insurance to highlight the everyday champions serving their communities," said Anaheim Ducks President Aaron Teats. "Together, we plan on dedicating this season to sharing the importance of giving back and what the true definition of community is."

Additionally, Mercury Insurance and the Anaheim Ducks this season are unveiling a fan favorite with a power-play twist, "My First Game" video series. The series features Ducks players reminiscing about their first games. It's viewable at https://www.mercuryinsurance.com/campaigns/my-first/ and Mercury invites fans to share in the fun with their own first game experiences on social media.

For more information on this year's sponsorship, please visit www.mercuryinsurance.com.

Mercury Insurance (NYSE: MCY) is a multiple-line insurance carrier offering personal auto, homeowners, and renters insurance directly to consumers and through a network of independent agents in Arizona, California, Illinois, Georgia, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Texas and Virginia, as well as auto insurance in Florida. Mercury also writes business owners, business auto, landlord, commercial multi-peril and mechanical protection insurance in various states.

Since 1962, Mercury has provided customers with tremendous value for their insurance dollar by pairing ultracompetitive rates with excellent customer service. Mercury has earned "A" ratings from A.M. Best and Fitch, as well as "Best Auto Insurance Company" designations from Forbes and Insure.com. For more information visit www.MercuryInsurance.com or follow the company on Twitter or Facebook.

The Anaheim Ducks were born in 1992 and played their first-ever game on Oct. 8, 1993 at Honda Center (then Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim). One of 32 NHL franchises located throughout the United States and Canada, the Ducks have played to over 90% capacity crowds in their history at the 17,174-seat Honda Center. On June 20, 2005, the Ducks franchise was purchased by Orange County residents Henry and Susan Samueli. By securing the first Stanley Cup championship in franchise history in 2007, the club also became the first team from California to win hockey's ultimate prize. The Ducks have reached the Conference Finals five times (2003, 2006, 2007, 2015 & 2017) and the Stanley Cup Final twice (2003 & 2007). The club has won six Pacific Divisions titles in franchise history, including five straight from 2013-17. 

SOURCE Mercury Insurance