Reebok has "scored a sports-marketing goal" in the aftermath of Bruins G Tim Thomas' highlight save Monday night during his team's Eastern Conference Finals Game Five win against the Lightning, according to Greg Turner of the BOSTON HERALD. Thomas used his Reebok stick to make a diving save during the third period, and it has "netted replay after replay" for Reebok, including earning the No. 1 spot on ESPN's Top 10 plays on "SportsCenter." The "Reebok" branding on the stick was "so easy to read in slow motion and laid out, like Thomas, left to right across the gaping goal mouth." Even Versus play-by-play announcer Mike Emrick during the game mentioned the "stick manufacturer’s good fortune." Glen Thornborough, VP/Sports Marketing for Reebok's hockey unit, said, "This was picture perfect. It’s almost like someone from our marketing team went down there to set it up the way it actually needed to be placed." Thomas, who does not have an endorsement deal for equipment, "happened to pick Reebok over its rivals for his goalkeeper gear." Altus Marketing & Management Founder Tim Marken: "You can probably count on one or two hands a framed opportunity like this." Turner notes Nike "got a memorable money shot at the 2005 Masters when Tiger Woods' key chip shot rolled ever-so-slowly into the 16th hole as a CBS camera zoomed in on the trademark Swoosh" (BOSTON HERALD, 5/25). In Boston, Matt Pepin noted Reebok officials "must be giddy" over Thomas' save because "nothing beats a product actually performing at the highest level in an extremely visible way, or being part of a defining moment of an event" (BOSTON.com, 5/24).
