Tim Hortons PSA stars NHLers Sidney Crosby and Nate McKinnon

NHLers Sidney Crosby and Nate MacKinnon are starring in a new PSA for Tim Hortons to make youth sports more fun.

Canadian coffee chain Tim Hortons knows that few things go together as well as hockey and puppies, especially when star NHL players are involved.

That’s why they got the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Sidney Crosby and Nate MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche to help with their Timbits Minor Sports Program (better known as Timbits Hockey) to help make youth sports more about the learning experience and less about competition.

Timbits Hockey is a community-sponsored program designed to teach the game to children between four and nine years old. Over 100,000 kids across Canada take part each year.

In the ad, Crosby and MacKinnon take suggestions from Timbits Hockey players about how to make the game more enjoyable, which includes a doughbut-shaped pinata filled with gumballs, Labrador Retriever puppies on the ice, and Whoopee cushions attached to the goalie’s pads.

“Sid and Nate are two of the best players in hockey today, and we’re happy to have played a part in this through Timbits Hockey,” Paloma Azulay, Tim Hortons chief marketing officer, said in a press release. “When we make sports fun, kids continue to play and don’t just excel, but can achieve their dreams. We are incredibly proud of our restaurant owners who are helping kids do just that every year.”

Despite being about an athletic generation apart (Crosby is eight years older than MacKinnon), they have recently become lumped together as they play the same position, center, and grew up in the same hometown of Coal Harbour, Nova Scotia.

Timbits are a kind of doughnut hole, and the signature item of the Tim Hortons menu, which makes it a fitting name for the program.

Tim Hortons has over 4,800 locations in 14 countries, including China, Mexico, Spain and the Philippines.

They have locations across all of Canada’s ten provinces and three territories, and operate in at least 13 US states, including so far south as Missouri and West Virginia.

For more information, see their website.

For more hockey coverage within the FanSided Network, our sister site Puck Prose is the best place to start, then there are separate sites covering each team more in-depth. Dog O’Day also provides some general NHL coverage.