Michigan State University Hockey Trending Thanks to New Chevy Ad: Watch

Product placement is everything, and nobody knows that better than folks at Chevrolet. That's why it's no surprise that die-hard Spartan fans are cheering the new Chevy ad featuring a Michigan State University Hockey jersey.

Viewer's first look of the new ad for the Chevy Silverado started airing this past weekend during the NFL Championship games. The minute-long as titled, "Walter in Winter", reunited us with Walter, the cat that acts like a dog. Fans fell in love with Walter when he made his debut for the automotive giant back in the summer of 2021.

Get our free mobile app

In the new commercial, Walter's owner, played by actor John Hoogenakker known for roles in Colony and Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan, takes the cat to play some pond hockey at a mountain lake. MSU fans were quick to notice that Walter's owner was sporting an MSU Hockey jersey

So how did Walter the Cat end up with a Spartan as an owner? Well, a big thank you goes out to Scot Schlesinger, an associate athletics director of sales and marketing at MSU. Schlesinger has worked several times over the years with General Motors on Michigan State's behalf and was able to help make some Spartan magic happen.

"A couple of my contacts over at GM got a hold of me and said they were filming a commercial with a winter theme, and they were going to have a pond hockey portion of it," said Schlesinger, who played soccer for MSU from 1991-1995.  "They asked me if we'd be willing to join in with them. We value our partnership with GM. It's an incredible organization and we're very happy to be partners with them, so immediately I said, 'Yes, we'd love to do that.' "

It became one of the best-kept secrets on campus, with Schlesinger being one of the few that knew MSU would have a "5 seconds of fame" moment in the now trending ad.

"We're getting a lot of positive feedback over here about it," Schlesinger said. "It definitely was seen by a lot of people."

Yes, Michigan State is definitely riding high on their Silverado moment, but let's face it, Walter is the real star. You can check out the full commercial below.