Porch Notes
Why Detroit Hockey Fans Throw a Dead Octopus Onto the Ice
History and culture
If you’ve ever watched a Detroit Red Wings playoff game and seen a fan hurl what appears to be a dead sea creature onto the ice — yes, that’s real, and yes, there’s a reason. It’s one of the great traditions in American sports, and it was born in a Detroit fish market.
Back in 1952, winning the Stanley Cup — hockey’s championship — required a team to win eight playoff games (two best-of-seven series). On April 15, 1952, two brothers named Pete and Jerry Cusimano, who owned a fish market in Detroit’s Eastern Market, had an idea. An octopus has eight legs — one for each win the Red Wings needed. So they smuggled an octopus into Olympia Stadium and threw it onto the ice for good luck. The Red Wings won that game, swept their way to the championship, and a legend was born.
Fans have been tossing octopuses onto the ice ever since, especially during playoff runs. The team embraced it completely: their unofficial mascot is a giant purple octopus named Al — named after Al Sobotka, the longtime arena worker famous for scooping up the thrown octopuses and twirling them over his head to fire up the crowd. During the Red Wings’ dynasty years in the 1990s and 2000s, the ice could get downright slippery with cephalopods. (The NHL has tried over the years to discourage it, with mixed success — true Detroiters consider it a sacred duty.)
It’s gloriously weird, deeply Michigan, and a perfect example of how a random act in a fish market can become an eight-legged civic tradition lasting over 70 years.
Where to see it
Catch a Red Wings game at Little Caesars Arena in downtown Detroit, especially during the playoffs. (We're not officially recommending you bring an octopus — but you'll know the tradition if you see it fly.)