Fan Throws Giant Octopus on Ice at Detroit Red Wings Playoff Game

The roots of the hurling of octopi at Detroit Red Wings playoff games go back to the 1950s.

It began as a symbolic offering to ensure a bountiful harvest season for the octopus farmers of Detroit—or as an eight-tentacle salute to the eight postseason wins once required to win the Stanley Cup. Scholars maintain its true meaning has been lost to the sands of time.

In any case, the octopus emerged again in Rock City as the Red Wings hosted the Tampa Bay Lightning for Game 4 of their Stanley Cup playoff series Thursday night. The game ended poorly for Detroit—a 3-2 overtime loss—but it wasn't for a lack of flying cephalopods at Joe Louis Arena.

One fan took the opportunity to throw a gigantic octopus onto the ice before the game.

While most specimens thrown for these occasions are the size of a calamari appetizer, this one looked capable of bringing down a pontoon boat.

That's not an octopus—that's an adolescent kraken.

TSN's Steve Warne thinks it might be a new record.

No word on whether the beast's carcass came alive and devoured the Zamboni driver.

Dan is on Twitter. He once released a kraken in public and is now banned from Sur La Table.