Yeah, any idea what the significance is to this tradition?
Are octopi lucky or something?
The eight arms signifies the number of games that the Red Wings have to win to win the Stanley Cup. So the octopus is thrown out when there are “eight more games to go.” Kind of silly if you ask me.
I hadn’t known it myself until recently — back in the day, you just had to win the semi-finals and then the finals — 8 wins. Now it’s 16.
But the plural of octopus is not octopi — it’s octopodes.
And yes, it is also a symbol of good luck, because I believe the Wings swept all eight games after the first time, or two, that the octopus was thrown. So ever since then it was a good luck charm of sorts.