 Throwing Out the Fish is a tradition at New Hampshire Wildcats men's ice hockey games. The tradition involves the throwing of a large fish over the boards onto the ice aimed at the opposing team's net after the first goal is scored by UNH. According to former UNH assistant coach Bob Norton the tradition dates back to the early 1970's. "It goes back to when we were playing a Division II team, and our program had gone way past theirs. I remember (the UNH fans) threw out this little dinky thing and they called it a Division II fish. I guess they were trying to tell them they weren't worthy of a first-rate fish."[1] This tradition caught on as a local fraternity made it a ritual to throw out the fish after UNH's first goal. The fish was used to resemble the visiting team, "fishing the puck out of the net." Former coach Dick Umile also got involved in the tradition in the early 1990's. At that time, the home team received a penalty if fans threw objects on the ice. "At all these different rinks people were throwing things--tennis balls, newspapers --and it was really holding up the game," Umile recalls. "It's the Maine weekend, and the cops won't let the kid in with the fish. I'm in the office before the game, and the students come to get me. So I go down there, get the fish from the cops, and we're walking in with the fish in the bag. The kids say, 'But coach, we're going to get a penalty.' I say, 'Don't worry about it. We'll kill the penalty. Just throw the fish.'"[2] If you buy something from an SB Nation link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.
The Nashville Predators are in the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in franchise history, which means a national audience is getting the chance to discover some of their traditions. We’ve gotten treated to one of those repeatedly since Game 1 against the Pittsburgh Penguins — catfish on the ice. Game 6 is on Sunday night, and there will be a lot more than one catfish on hand at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. Now, you might be thinking, “What gives? There’s a lot of crazy stuff that happens on the ice during hockey games, but catfish? Why catfish?” The catfish-throwing is actually a tradition for Predators fans that they brought to Pittsburgh for Game 1, much to the chagrin of local fish markets that tried to avoid selling them to Tennessee residents. It’s something they’ve been doing in their home arena for over a decade. The first reported example of it happening came back in 2003, according to The Tennessean. Ever since, catfish have rained down on the ice in Nashville during big moments. There are few bigger than Stanley Cup Final games. The tradition takes inspiration from fans of the Detroit Red Wings, who have been throwing octopuses on the ice in the Motor City since the 1950s. The Red Wings’ tradition, colloquially known as the Legend of the Octopus, started in 1952 when a pair of brothers hurled an octopus on the ice during the team’s playoff run. The Wings went on to sweep the Maple Leafs and Canadiens to win the Stanley Cup, and fans have been doing it in support of them ever since. When the Predators started playing in 1998, they obviously didn’t have any history like the Red Wings. Detroit was arguably the NHL’s premier franchise at the time, though, and with many people from the Midwest flocking to Nashville, it made the Wings a logical source of inspiration. So someone decided in 2003 to toss a catfish on the ice, presumably thinking of the Red Wings, and even though the Predators didn’t go on to win the Stanley Cup that year, a tradition was born. Ever since, fans have kept doing it — even if it means tricking a local seafood seller and taping a gross, slimy 20-pound fish to your back in order to get past security. You might still get kicked out, though, at least in Pittsburgh: Does the tradition make a ton of sense? No, not really. But this is Nashville, its own kind of hockeytown, and it doesn’t really care whether the tradition makes sense to you. It’s all their own, they love it, and that’s enough for them. Next time you see a catfish on the ice, now you know. The Legend of the Octopus is a sports tradition during Detroit Red Wings home playoff games involving dead octopuses thrown onto the ice rink. The origins of the activity go back to the 1952 playoffs, when a National Hockey League team played two best-of-seven series to capture the Stanley Cup. Having eight arms, the octopus symbolized the number of playoff wins necessary for the Red Wings to win the Stanley Cup. The practice started April 15, 1952, when Pete and Jerry Cusimano, brothers and storeowners in Detroit's Eastern Market, hurled an octopus into the rink of Olympia Stadium. The team swept the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens en route to winning the championship.[1] Since 1952, the practice has persisted with each passing year. In one 1995 game, fans threw 36 octopuses, including a specimen weighing 38 pounds (17 kg).[2] The Red Wings' unofficial mascot is a purple octopus named Al, and during playoff runs, two of these mascots were also hung from the rafters of Joe Louis Arena, symbolizing the 16 wins now needed to take home the Stanley Cup.[3] The practice has become such an accepted part of the team's lore, fans have developed various techniques and "octopus etiquette" for launching the creatures onto the ice.[4] At the final game at Joe Louis Arena, 35 octopuses were thrown onto the ice.[5] The octopus tradition has launched several other creature and object tossing moments: During Game 3 of the 1995 Stanley Cup Finals between the Detroit Red Wings and the New Jersey Devils, Devils fans threw a lobster, a dead fish, and other objects onto the ice.[6] Nashville Predators fans throw catfish onto their home ice. The first recorded instance occurred on January 26, 1999 during a game between the Detroit Red Wings and the Nashville Predators. It was done in response to the Red Wings' tradition.[7][8] In the 2006 Stanley Cup playoffs, during the opening-round series between the Wings and the Edmonton Oilers, an Edmonton radio host suggested throwing Alberta Beef on the ice before the game. Oilers fans continued throwing steaks, even at away games, resulting in several arrests at the away cities.[9] During Game 4 of the 2007 Stanley Cup Western Conference Semifinals between the Detroit Red Wings and the San Jose Sharks, a Sharks fan threw a 3-foot leopard shark onto the ice at the HP Pavilion at San Jose after the Sharks scored their first goal with 2 minutes left in the first period.[10] During the 2008 Stanley Cup Finals, in which the Red Wings defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins, seafood wholesalers in Pittsburgh, led by Wholey's Fish Market, began requiring identification from customers who purchased octopuses, refusing to sell to buyers from Michigan.[11] This also took place in the lead up to the 2017 Stanley Cup Finals with markets refusing to sell catfish to Tennessee residents.[12] Similarly, also in 2017 and in Pittsburgh but in a different sport, popular Pittsburgh-based sandwich chain Primanti Brothers temporarily removed fish sandwiches from their menu in the lead-up to the Pittsburgh Steelers’ wild-card playoff game against the Miami Dolphins.[13] In Game 1 of the 2010 Western Conference Quarterfinals between the Detroit Red Wings and the Phoenix Coyotes, a rubber snake was thrown onto the ice after a goal by the Coyotes' Keith Yandle.[14] In Game 2 of the 2010 Western Conference Semifinals between the Detroit Red Wings and San Jose Sharks, a small shark was tossed onto the ice with an octopus inside its mouth.[15] In Game 3 of the 2017 Western Conference Finals between the Anaheim Ducks and the Nashville Predators, a Predators fan threw a skinned duck on the ice.[16] In Game 1 of the 2017 Stanley Cup Finals between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Nashville Predators, a fan threw a catfish on the ice in the second period, and was escorted out of the arena.[17] Al Sobotka, the former head ice manager at Little Caesars Arena and one of the two Zamboni drivers, was the person who retrieved the thrown octopuses from the ice. When the Red Wings played at Joe Louis Arena, he was known to twirl an octopus above his head as he walked across the ice rink to the Zamboni entrance. On April 19, 2008, the NHL sent the Red Wings a memo that forbade this and imposed a $10,000 fine for violating the mandate. In an email to the Detroit Free Press, NHL spokesman Frank Brown justified the ban because matter flew off the octopus and got on the ice when Sobotka swung it above his head.[18] In an article describing the effects of the new rule, the Detroit Free Press dubbed the NHL's prohibition as "Octopus-gate".[19] By the beginning of the third round of the 2008 Playoffs, the NHL loosened the ban to allow for the octopus twirling to take place at the Zamboni entrance.[20]
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