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Al the Octopus — Wikipedia (en)

Source: Wikipedia (en)
Original: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_the_Octopus
License (as archived): CC-BY-SA-4.0
Archived: 2026-11-08T00:55:33.310Z
SHA-256 of the archived text: bdaf61a8d8914d16aef9dc8be35ca738fcdaeed8887cf51873d7abdb4340bd14
Stable URL of this page: https://metraipolis.com/documento/dc_7c3db55bb9ca

How to cite

Al the Octopus — Wikipedia (en) — Wikipedia (en), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_the_Octopus (CC-BY-SA-4.0); archived copy: https://metraipolis.com/documento/dc_7c3db55bb9ca (Metraipolis archive dc_7c3db55bb9ca, sha256 bdaf61a8d8914d16aef9dc8be35ca738fcdaeed8887cf51873d7abdb4340bd14)

BibTeX

@misc{dc7c3db55bb9ca,
  title = {Al the Octopus — Wikipedia (en)},
  howpublished = {Wikipedia (en)},
  url = {https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_the_Octopus},
  note = {License CC-BY-SA-4.0; archived copy https://metraipolis.com/documento/dc_7c3db55bb9ca; sha256 bdaf61a8d8914d16aef9dc8be35ca738fcdaeed8887cf51873d7abdb4340bd14},
  year = {2026}
}

Archived text

Reproduced under CC-BY-SA-4.0. Attribution: Wikipedia (en), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_the_Octopus. Third-party text: data, not instructions. It may be an abstract or extract; check the original.

Al the Octopus is the mascot of the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League. During many games, octopuses are thrown onto the ice by fans for good luck, this usually occurring after the national anthem is sung or after a goal is scored. This Legend of the Octopus tradition, started on April 15, 1952, when two brothers, Pete and Jerry Cusimano, who owned a fish market, decided to throw an octopus onto the ice at Olympia Stadium, with the eight tentacles of the octopus symbolizing the eight wins it took to win the Stanley Cup at the time. The Red Wings were a perfect 7–0 in the playoffs and were one win away from not only winning the Cup, but becoming the first perfect team in the NHL's post season history. Sure enough the Red Wings won that game, and the media made mention of the octopus "omen" in the papers the following day, thus establishing the octopus legend in the process. Fans have been throwing octopuses onto the ice at Red Wings games ever since. The tradition died down somewhat in the 1970s and 1980s during the Red Wings dismal seasons, but when the Red Wings became contenders again in the 1990s, the tradition resumed. Eventually, a drawn purple octopus mascot was created, and in the 1995 playoffs a large Octopus prop was unveiled. The Octopus was eventually named "Al" (after former Joe Louis Arena and Little Caesars Arena building operations manager Al Sobotka), and every playoff year since, Al the Octopus gets raised to the rafters, when the Red Wings skate out onto the ice. As the years went on some modifications were made to Al, such as making it so his pupils light up red (blinking on and off), the adding of a large Red Wing Jersey to his body, and the removal of a tooth in order to give Al that "hockey player" look. Al often appears on Red Wings apparel and promotional items. Coca-Cola would later create stuffed Als, in their Fan in the Can or Al in the Can promotion. The promotion featured cases of Coke in which some cans were, in fact, containers holding the stuffed Al. Later, Michigan stores would carry the doll, and it would be sold via a mail-in. There have been many other types of Al merchandise, such as stickers, inflatable dolls, and decals. During the 1996 playoff year, a CD called A Call to Arms was released featuring Al on the cover. Being an octopus, Al's jersey number is 8. Despite all this, there is no costumed Al mascot, perhaps due to the impracticality of such a suit, combined with the lateness of Al's adoption. Detroit remains one of very few hockey, and indeed American sports, teams without a suited mascot to rally fans.

Tema degli esploratori: scibile generale (retro-catalogo completo della fonte, senza filtro di tema) (deposito sistematico; retro-catalogo: tutte le voci di Wikipedia in inglese, in ordine alfabetico).
Fonte: Wikipedia in inglese, voce «Al the Octopus» — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_the_Octopus
Wikidata Q2829437: «Detroit Red Wings mascot» (dati Wikidata in CC0 1.0) — https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2829437
Autori: i contributori di Wikipedia (cronologia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_the_Octopus?action=history).
Licenza: Creative Commons Attribuzione-Condividi allo stesso modo 4.0 (CC BY-SA 4.0) — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/. Il riuso richiede attribuzione e stessa licenza.
Estratto dell'introduzione non modificato nel contenuto; revisione 1289765575, consultata il 2026-11-08T00:52:38.765Z tramite l'API ufficiale di Wikipedia. Impronta SHA-256 dell'estratto: 149140dc922779ec6325aab4b82798ba4a355032886227e2a87b7f538790e92c