Octopii

[Perry Norton]

Does anything ever get in the way? I'm
thinking of the team that wears red and
runs on ice skates. It's a rough game,
but the participants seem to enjoy it.
The only thing I dislike is the dead
octopii they throw on the ice.

 

[Virtue City]

? ? ?

I wonder how that tradition actually started.

At my city's ice rink, we've found raw octopii and squids (I think people got them instead because they're cheaper) in the bleachers after high school hockey games.

VC

 

[Tranplanner]

Supposedly, it all started because in the old days the Stanley Cup playoffs were an eight game series. Eight games, eight tentacles...you figure it out. I don't know exactly why they started throwing them on the ice though, or even why the connection was made.

 

[Perry Norton]

Does anyone know where the HQ of the Stanley Cup are located; or the Red Wings? We ought to be able to sort this one ought in a flash.

 

[Jen]

Aha I think I may have somethingbizarre hockey traditions

 

[Perry Norton]

Well O.K. I finally found the story, via Google.(Jen had it too, I think) It began
on April 15, 1992. Pete and Jerry Cusimano
threw an octopus on the ice, and the idea
hung around - though there's no reason why
multiple tosses occured. A 50 pounder was
tossed in 1996. There were 6 teams in the
NHL at the time. Eight legs doesn't add up
to the number of wins or the number of
teams, but what the hell.