Sports teams are always looking for ways to get the crowd into the game. Many teams use cheerleaders and mascots. The Detroit Red Wings may not have cheerleaders, but they do have Al! Al is an octopus. Does an octopus seem strange at hockey game? Not if you are a Detroit Red Wing fan. The octopus has been the good luck charm of this NHL franchise for many years.
One of the strangest traditions in the world of sports is practiced in Detroit, Michigan. In Detroit after a big win or to show their appreciation for something really outstanding hockey fans throw octopi onto the ice. Why do they throw octopi? The story of the octopus goes back more than fifty years.
To truly understand the tradition, you have to understand the format for the NHL playoffs. In the 1950s there were only six teams in the NHL. These teams are now known as the original six. In order to gain the right to hoist Lord Stanley in victory you had to win eight games.
Local fish store owners Jerry and Peter Cusimano made the connection between the number of wins needed to gain the cup, and the legs on an octopus. For some strange reason they thought that throwing an Octopus onto the ice would bring their team good luck. They threw the very first Octopus onto the ice on the 15th of April 1952. Detroit did make the Stanley Cup final playoffs that year. They not only made the finals, but they swept the series. The beat the Montreal Canadian four games to none. The octopus instantly became the good luck symbol of the Detroit Red wings.
Who gets the fun of cleaning up the chucked octopi? This dubious honor has for more than thirty years been the responsibility of Al Sobotka. Al is both the Zamboni driver and the arena manager. Al has been at the arena so long, that he has himself become part of the tradition. Al is well known for twirling the octopi after he has picked them up. He even had a fifty pound octopus ride on the front of the Zamboni with him during one playoff game.
Throwing octopus is not popular with the entire league. In fact, there is a standing rule in the NHL which states that if a fan tosses anything onto the ice, the home team may be assessed a delay of game penalty. For years the league has simply turned its head when it came to octopus tossing in Detroit. To at least tone down the octopus antics, the league stated in 2008 that it would fine Al $10,000 if he continued to twirl the octopi. The league claimed that the goalies and players on the opposing teams were complaining about guts and debris being left on the ice. Al has since refrained from spinning the octopi until he is off the actual ice.
In 2011, Gary Bettman, commissioner of the NHL made another attempt to combat the fish tossing in Detroit. He stated that the league would fine any person caught throwing octopi $500. To counter this one of the Detroit Red Wing forwards, Johan Frazen offered to pay any and all fines incurred as a result of thrown octopi. He did not want this long standing tradition to die.
Detroit is known as hockeytown. If you do decide to go and watch a game in Joe Loius arena, you may not see cheerleaders, but you will probably see Al. If you are lucky enough to go to a playoff game, you might want to be on the lookout for flying octopi, not every Detroit Red Wing fan has a good arm!
