Why do they throw the octapus on the Ice in a hockey game?

Answer 1

In the 1950s you needed 8 wins to win the Stanley Cup. In 1955 I believe the Red Wings won 8 straight games (no losses) to win the Stanley Cup. A fan who worked at a fish market saw 8 legs on an octopus symbolizing the 8 wins needed to win the cup. Thus a tradition was born and now it is thrown on the ice for good luck.

This was first done back in the 1950s when it took eight wins in the playoffs to win the Stanley Cup. There was a symbolism between the eight wins and the eight arms of the octopus.

(see the related link below to 'Legend of the Octopus' )

Answer 2

It isn't so much when the Red Wings score as it is when they score or win (or even before the game) in the games just before and during the playoffs. An octopus has 8 tentacles. This represents the number of games that a team used to have to win in order to win the Stanley Cup. This is due to the fact that there used to be only 6 teams (of which the Wings are one) and as such they had just 2 rounds of playoffs, which included the Finals. Like today, each of those playoff rounds were 4 games, hence 2 x 4 = 8 and 8 = the number of tentacles on an octopus. I'll admit that I don't know why the Wings are the only team to have adopted this tradition and not the other 5 teams.

Answer 3

It's for good luck in the Stanely Cup; back then, a team had to win 8 games to win the Stanely Cup, so a group of fishermen thought it would be hilarious if they'd throw an octopus (8 arms for 8 wins) on the ice rink - the team won that year.

Answer 4

When the Stanley Cup playoffs first started, it took 8 games to win the Cup. Each one of the 8 legs of the Octopus represents those victories. Even though it now takes 16 games to win the Cup, the tradition continues.

The practice started in Detroit (and original 6 team).