Legend of the Octopus

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Legend of the Octopus is a sports tradition during Detroit Red Wings home games in which an octopus is thrown onto the ice surface for good luck during a playoff run. The origins of the activity go back to the 1952 playoffs, when a National Hockey League team played two best-of-seven series — needing to win eight games — to capture the Stanley Cup. The octopus, having eight arms, symbolized the number of playoff wins necessary for the Red Wings to win the Stanley Cup. The team swept the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens en route to winning the championship, as well as winning two of the next three championships.

Since 1952, because the tossing of octopuses is generally viewed as a successful symbol of good luck, the practice has persisted each year; in one 1995 game, fans threw 36 octopuses, including a 30-pounder.^[1] The Red Wings mascot is a purple octopus named Stanley, and during playoff runs two of these mascots are also hung from the rafters of the Joe Louis Arena, symbolising the 16 wins now needed to win the Stanley Cup.

In recent years, however, animal rights groups, such as PETA, have objected to the activity, claiming that "flinging an octopus is no more acceptable than hurling kittens and puppies."^[2]

The Octopus tradition has launched a couple of other object-tossing manias. During the 1996 Stanley Cup Playoffs, fans of the Florida Panthers threw thousands of toy rats on the ice whenever the Panthers scored, inspired by the Octopus toss and the story of Scott Mellanby killing a rat in the Panthers' dressing room. The NHL eventually cracked down on the rat-tossing, because of the lengthy delays they could cause, and it ceased altogether shortly after the Panthers' Cup Finals run ended. Ten years later, 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 start of games as a countering good-luck charm. After some initial success with this, Oilers fans continued throwing steaks, even at away games, resulting in several arrests at the away cities.^[3]