Flyers video coach Adam Patterson has a knack for picking up on things others don't see while breaking down game film ... or while having a drink with his wife.

After shopping at Deptford Mall in South Jersey in 2011, Patterson stopped in a Chili's for a bite to eat, then took a seat at the restaurant bar while waiting for a table.

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It was there that Patterson noticed a bartender loading bottles of beer into an ice-filled bin that had a plexiglass-like, see-through front.

"It was like, 'boom,'" said Patterson, a native of Peterborough, Ontario. "A lightbulb went off in my head. I said to my wife, 'Look how good those beers look on ice.' I was like, 'why shouldn't you be able to see what's inside a cooler?'"

On Monday, Patterson and business partner/former former Flyers star Scott Hartnell unveiled Naked Cooler ... the first cooler with windows, now available online at kickstarter.com and nakedcooler.com.

"Basically every household has a red, white or blue cooler, and this is kind of cool twist on it," Hartnell, who was traded last June to the Columbus Blue Jackets, told NJ Advance Media in a phone interview.

Hartnell jumped onboard as an investor after hearing Patterson brag about his new idea at the Flyers practice rink in 2011.



"There was passion in his voice," Hartnell said. "I told Adam, 'I want to be involved.' I had a smile on my face when we first started talking about it a few years back."

Patterson is 50 percent owner, while Hartnell and a silent partner own 25 percent each. The group has invested less than $100,000, with most of the money going to patents and developing windows that don't fog.

The coolers, which can hold 60 cans, currently cost $80, but the price will jump to $150 by July.

Patterson initially called his invention "Window Cooler," then changed his mind while showering one day.

"I was literally naked and it hit me," said Patterson, who has been with the Flyers since 2003, the first six years as their video coordinator.

Down the road, Patterson isn't ruling out attempting to take his product to Shark Tank, the hit ABC show in which Mark Cuban and other "Sharks" invest in entrepreneurs.

"Everybody tells me to go on it," Patterson said. "I don't want to without having any production. If I have to go there a year from now, so be it."

Patterson already has a connection, as his son Colin was coached in hockey last year by a Shark Tank sensation. Aaron Krause, a South Jersey resident, landed a deal and now has the best-selling Shark Tank product, Scrub Daddy.

"I didn't even know about Aaron until somebody told me, then I met with him and he told me what it takes to do something like this," Patterson said. "For now, I just want to get Naked Cooler out there. The highest compliment I can get will be when someone says, 'How did someone not think of this before?"

Randy Miller may be reached at rmiller@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @RandyJMiller. Find NJ.com Philadelphia Sports on Facebook.