DETROIT -- Some traditions never get old, do they?
Like the NHL's uncanny ability to tick off the fans in Detroit, home to one of the league's most successful franchises and arguably its most devoted U.S. audience.
So for that reason, and certainly others far less snarky, the memo that arrived late this week from Colin Campbell, the NHL's director of hockey operations, shouldn't have been a complete surprise.
But tell that to the sellout crowd that packed the Joe Louis Arena on Friday night. They were treated to a 2-1 overtime victory in Game 5 against the Nashville Predators but were denied one of their favorite traditions: Al Sobotka twirling a giant octopus over his head, revving up the crowd just before the opening faceoff.
Now hear this
The NHL has officially banned Al's playoff tradition, sending out a memo forbidding Zamboni drivers -- they didn't mention Sobotka by name, only by job description -- from cleaning up the kind of curious on-ice debris that only a diehard hockey fan could understand.
That slimy job will be left to the linesmen from now on, Campbell decreed, though Friday it was two of the Predators who scooped up the seafood and tossed it behind the visitors bench.
Sobotka, meanwhile, was forced to sit and watch from the Zamboni entrance. Violating the new mandate from the league's front office will result in a $10,000 fine, and Sobotka, the JLA building manager who began working at the old Olympia back in 1971, isn't about to pay that tab.
"I don't have it, for one," Sobotka said, laughing. "And I don't think the Red Wings are going to pay it. So we'll have to obey the rules."
But just for good measure, after he'd finished resurfacing the ice during the first intermission, Sobotka picked up one of the octopi lounging rinkside, gave a big holler for old time's sake and twirled the thing over his head.
Out of sight, but not out of mind.
"Certain teams and certain traditions, they should just leave them alone," the Wings' Chris Osgood said. "It's a shame. It's great for the atmosphere, and the fans love it. The league should ask the fans first before they do anything. That's who pays to get into the rink and see the game."
Ironically, it was 56 years ago this week the tradition started, when Pete Cusimano tossed an octopus on to the ice to celebrate a playoff goal by Gordie Howe against the Canadiens. The Wings then reeled off eight straight victories en route to the Stanley Cup, and a playoff tradition was born in Detroit.
Sobotka's own unique role in it began in 1991, as he recalls.
"Last game of the regular season against Chicago, and somebody threw one just inside the blue line and nobody went to grab it," he said. "So I went out and got it, and since the playoffs were coming up, I twirled it. And that was the start of it all -- it just grew from there."
Dissenting views
Other teams have complained about Sobotka's wild squid swinging, but Sobotka, who calls the ice surface at the Joe "my baby," insists his act doesn't affect the field of play.
The NHL obviously disagrees, though vice president Frank Brown declined to comment on the decision Friday night. But just for the record, as recently as last year's playoffs, the NHL tacitly endorsed Sobotka's antics.
"Every so often, an octopus slips out of someone's hands, and Al is right there to take care of the matter," Brown told the New York Times last May. "And he cannot be blamed if, as it tries to break free from Al's grasp, the octopus lifts Al's arm and twirls itself in the air."
It was all in good fun. Or, at least it used to be.
"Whatever the league wants," Sobotka said, shaking his head, "that's what they'll get."
go fuck yourself bro, thats a Detroit, HOCKEYTOWN! tradition. thats like putting a cruising ordinance in place in every city along Woodward. Wheres the issue? the people cleaning it up love it, the team loves it, the fans love it, why ban it? just so some fuck behind a desk can make himself look powerful? This ban's bullshit.
