A Conversation on the Detroit Red Wings Playoff Octopus

Ok, so over the last few weeks I've been watching about as much NHL playoff hockey as one can. And while I've always been pretty knowledgeable about hockey, had seen lots of it on tv and in person and had played as a youth in Alaska, one area I am not too knowledgeable about is the tradition of throwing an Octopus on the ice when Detroit is in the playoffs. What follows is an email conversation between yours truly and Hubka re: the Detroit playoff octopus.

Fish: Lindsey Soto was very enjoyable last night, but only in a visual standpoint, unfortunately.
I’m disappointed, Detroit won and there was no octopus on the ice. Perhaps that’s only if they win the title? I don’t know. Do you?

Hubka: The octopus is thrown on the ice before the start of the game. But it is thrown on the ice before every home playoff game.

Fish: See, that’s what happens when you are raised on college hockey and a really shitty semi-pro team in your town that’s in the middle of bumfuck Egypt Alaska with the nearest nhl franchise being Calgary and then not growing up with tv. I know hockey, just not the extra-game parts of the traditions and stuff- well, outside the playoff beards.

And here’s something I’ve always wondered: is there like a designated “octopus guy” who the people at the gates know to let in because his cooler is alright because it has a fucking octopus in it?

Yeah, love that shit

Hubka: Now that’s a question I do not know the answer to. I know they raised a big stink a couple years ago about who is designated to go out and pick the octopus up off the ice. It had always been the zamboni driver and he would twirl it around above his head on his way off the ice to get the crowd fired up. The NHL decided it didn’t like the idea of octopus tissue flying around it’s ice surface so it banned that altogether and told one of its linesmen to go pick it up. There were huge protests in Detroit and eventually the league compromised and let the zamboni guy go pick it up, but he isn’t allowed to twirl it until he is off the ice in the zamboni tunnel. There you go, more than you ever wanted/needed to know about a goofy hockey tradition.

Fish: Is there only one octopus per game? I mean I would love to be the guy who brings an octopus – I mean there’s got to be tons of people who want to be the octopus hurler, perhaps it’s first come first serve at the gates, and if you have an octopus and it’s too late, you have to check your octopus at the door, so to speak, like a coat check and you can get it on the way out.

Hubka: I’ve never considered that the team was in some way restricting octopus entry into Joe Louis Arena. I think for certain reasons the team as a corporation tries to stay out of it. I would guess that there are times when multiple octopi are thrown on the ice, but that for most of the fans they understand who it is who is the designated thrower. It’s probably some title passed down thru generations of Detroit hockey fans like some sick family heirloom. But these are all wild guesses. It would never occur to me in the first place to throw a dead sea creature onto the ice before a hockey game so I’m probably not the most qualified person to be speaking.

fast forward conversation to last night (game two of the nhl playoffs)

Fish: At the end of the second period right now with a faceoff for Detroit in the pittsburg zone with four seconds left someone threw an octopus on the ice. assuming there was one at the start of the game this leads me to believe that there are multiple octopi and that this is a very confusing tradition with a lot of ins and outs, a lot of strands running through the old duder's head. We need to find a Detroit red wing expert who can explain this shit to me.

And by the power of Wikipedia [I can't believe I'm using wikipedia - but it's not for school, so sue me], here is all the info you ever need on the Red Wing Octopus:

The "Legend of the Octopus" is a sports tradition during Detroit Red Wings playoff games, in which an octopus is thrown onto the ice surface [or just, ice] for good luck.
During the playoffs, Joe Louis Arena is generally adorned [passive voice] with a giant octopus with red eyes, nicknamed "Al" after Joe Louis Arena head ice manager Al Sobotka.

The 1952 playoffs featured the start of the tradition—the octopus throw [redundant]. The owner of a local fish market, Peter Cusimano, threw one from the stands onto the ice. The eight legs were purportedly symbolic of the eight wins it took to win the Stanley Cup at the time. The Red Wings went on to sweep both of their opponents that year en route to a Stanley Cup championship. The NHL has, at various times, tried to eliminate this tradition but it continues to this day.[citation needed] [see kids, this is why Wikipedia should not be used as a legitimate source, because they just make shit up and hope that there's a citation out there that backs up what they are saying]

There is a certain etiquette that must be followed for fans that [sic] wish to throw octopuses onto the ice. The most appropriate time to throw an octopus onto the ice is after the national anthem is sung or after the Red Wings have scored a goal. Under these circumstances, the eight-legged creature [aka: octopus] must be thrown onto the ice surface in an area that is clear of all players. It is never acceptable to aim for opposing players. Beforehand, octopuses are usually boiled to reduce the amount of "slime" coating and facilitate the time it takes to clean up the ice and prevent further delay. [see friends, not very well written at all] Since Joe Louis Arena does not condone the throwing of any foreign objects onto the ice, fans often sneak the sea creatures [also, aka: octopus] in wrapped around their bellies in trash bags. The boiling process also lessens the odor and allows the fans to get past security. Tactics are also used to protect the identity of octopus-throwers from arena security. It is common practice for the hurler to ask the surrounding people to stand up with him to shroud the task in anonymity.[citation needed] [for all my students out there: see - wikipedia = whack]

Al Sobotka is the man responsible for removing the thrown creatures [again, octopus, come on, brevity here people] from the ice. [not always - last night at the end of the second period a linesmen picked it up with a toewl, and the octopus before the game was picked up by someone who was not Al] He is known for swinging the tossed octopuses above his head when walking off the ice. On April 19, 2008, NHL director of hockey operations Colin Campbell sent a memo to the Detroit Red Wings organization that forbids Zamboni drivers from cleaning up any octopuses thrown onto the ice and that violating the mandate would result in a $10,000 fine.[20] Instead, it will be the linesmen who will perform this duty. In an email to the Detroit Free Press NHL spokesman Frank Brown justified the ban because "matter flies off the octopus and gets on the ice" when Al Sobotka does it.[21]This ban, however, was later loosened [can a ban be loosened?] to allow for the octopus twirling to take place at the zamboni entrance.