CALGARY — From Twitter suggestions such as Molson, Gretzky, Ziam, Flash and Stryder, Canadian women’s hockey team defenceman Meaghan Mikkelson has chosen the name Calder for her newborn son.
The two-time Olympic gold medallist and her husband Scott Reid were struggling to come up with baby names and appealed to Twitter in June under the hashtag NameMyBaby.
Mikkelson and her husband announced live on Twitter via Periscope from a hospital room Monday that the name Calder emerged from over 3,500 votes.
"It’s been a pretty crazy summer," Mikkelson said. "At the start of it we didn’t know how it was going to turn out and how it was going to go, but I don’t think we would have found his name if it wasn’t for this.
"For Scott and I, Calder will always be the baby that Canada named."
The couple chose their eight favourite suggestions in July and put them to a summer-long vote on social media in a bracket-style format. They chose Calder from the two finalists.
"Calder is the name we went with obviously, instead of Emerson," Mikkelson said. "It’s a bit of a hockey name."
Frank Calder was the first president of the NHL. The Calder Cup is awarded annually to the American Hockey League champions. Mikkelson’s father Bill won it in 1971 playing for the Springfield Kings before the defenceman went on to play for the NHL’s Washington Capitals.
The Calder Trophy is given to the NHL’s top rookie annually.
Calder Allan William Reid was born Sunday afternoon after 42 hours of labour weighing eight pounds seven ounces.
"He is a healthy little boy," his mother said.
Mikkelson won Olympic gold in 2010 and 2014. The 30-year-old defender from St. Albert, Alta., played through a broken hand suffered four days before the Olympic final in 2014.
She wants to return to the national team in time for next April’s women’s world hockey championship in Kamloops, B.C.
Mikkelson and teammate Natalie Spooner finished second in the second season of the reality show "The Amazing Race Canada" last year.
Mikkelson and Reid have been married for four years and live in Calgary.
Reid, a former goalie from Grande Prairie, Alta., played for the Western Hockey League’s Kamloops Blazers and in the minor pro leagues before retiring two years ago. He is the coach of the Calgary Inferno of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League.