Edmonton Oilers' Walman opens up about iconic "griddy" celebration
Jake Walman lived up to the hype and more in his Edmonton Oilers debut this weekend.
The 29-year-old was effective all night long in Edmonton’s 5-4 victory over the Dallas Stars last night. Walman picked up a wicked assist on a chip pass to spring Zach Hyman for a breakaway goal and found a way to lay an open-ice hit on Mikko Rantanen as well.
A goal would’ve been the perfect thing to top off the night, but he couldn’t quite find the back of the net. Oilers fans will be waiting for that moment as it could be a chance to see Walman pull off his iconic “griddy” goal celebration that made headlines when he was a member of the Detroit Red Wings.
Walman was on last night’s edition of After Hours with Scott Oake and Louie DeBrusk, where he was asked about the origins of that celebration.
“I have a strong personality,” Walman said. “I like to dance, I watch TikTok, I watch these NFL guys doing celebrations when they get a touchdown… The biggest thing is growing the game and the kids look at it and love it.”
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For those that don’t understand the celebration, the dance that Walman is doing is referred to as “the griddy” and it involves tapping your heels and swinging your heels. It’s origin came from a high school football player in 2018 named Allen Davis and it blew up in popularity when the Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin Jeffersson put his spin on the dance in 2019.
Predictably, the dance became popular on social media with many imitating it, including Walman. For a sport as conservative as hockey, these types of celebrations aren’t common, but Walman says he gets pride out of hearing how much younger fans love it.
Still, he didn’t commit to doing it again in Edmonton when he eventually scores his first goal.
“I’m not sure if we’ll see that again,” Walman said with a smile. “Some people enjoy it, some don’t, but it’s just a game in the end.”
The origins of Walman’s history with the griddy are traced back to his love of gaming. During the After Hours segment, a video was played showing Walman’s love of gaming while he was with the Detroit Red Wings, particularly with the popular battle royale “Fortnite”.
One of the celebrations you can do in that game is, you guessed it, the griddy.
“Gaming has been a thing since I’ve grown up, when I was younger,” Walman said. “It was half outside throwing the ball around and then half inside gaming and I think it gets the competitive juices going.
“I think Fortnite is my biggest game and I knew we’re in our mid-20s and stuff but I still have a lot of friends that hop on and we have a great time like we’re kids.”
To cap off all this stuff about Walman’s affinity for social media and gaming, he even admitted that he was scrolling on TikTok when he found out he was traded to the Oilers on Thursday night.
Whether or not we get to see him pull out the griddy in an Oilers uniform or not, fans will be happy to know that Walman is here to help on what they hope is another long playoff run.