It was the 1850s in Canada, and hockey was just beginning to take shape.

The long, flat prairie fields that fed families in the summer transformed into frozen rinks in winter. By day, kids and young men laced up skates, chasing a puck across makeshift ice under the wide prairie sky. These early games weren’t just sport — they were community, social time, the spark of what would become Canada’s game.

At the very same moment, across taverns and parlors, cocktails were the new fashion. The Tom Collins, gin with lemon and fizz, was one of the most talked-about drinks of the era. And how were those cocktails sipped? Through straws made of the same rye grass that grew in the fields where hockey was played.

So in truth, hockey and cocktails — skating and sipping — were never far apart. They shared the same fields, the same culture, the same roots. Rye grass gave us the rinks under our skates and the straws in our glasses. Hockey gave us community. Cocktails gave us celebration.

Fast forward 175 years, and those connections still matter. With OG Straws, rye grass once again plays its part — this time as a carbon-negative, eco-friendly straw. And just like in the 1850s, hockey and rye are still linked. Every straw today helps fund hockey families, ensuring jerseys on players’ backs and skates on the ice.

Hockey, cocktails, straws — born together in history, united again today.