Back in 1952, 2 brothers: Pete and Jerry Cusimano threw a dead octopus into the rink of Olympia stadium.
The reason for the octopus is because it has 8 legs and it symbolizes the numbers of wins the Wings needed to win the Cup. They used it as a sign of good luck. They swept the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Montreal Canadiens.
Since that day, the tradition kept going on. In 1995, a fan threw 36 octopuses and during that time, the Wings had an official mascot (purple octopus) named AI. 2 of these mascots were hung in the Joe Louis arena as the team needed 16 wins in the modern NHL for the Stanley Cup.
One other notable moment was in 2008 Stanley Cup finals when the Wings beat the Penguins, the seafood wholesalers refuse to sell octopuses to buyers from Michigan.
In 2017, the last game played at the Joe Louis Arena, 35 octopuses were thrown at the rink.
