NHL Predators coach calls for freeze on catfish
Nashville Predators coach Peter Laviolette on Monday urged the team's fans to halt their habit of throwing dead catfish onto the ice as they prepared to host the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Stanley Cup.
Predators fans hurled five catfish onto the ice at Bridgestone Arena in Game 3 as Nashville won 5-1 to leave the series at 2-1.
A catfish tossed onto the ice during Game 1 last week also caused a delay and Laviolette is concerned the antics will lead to a delay-of-game penalty.
"Hey everyone, showing good sportsmanship is part of being good citizens of Smashville. That means not throwing anything on the ice, putting both our players and the officials in danger," Laviolette said in a video to fans on Monday, just hours before what could be a pivotal Game 4 with the Predators trailing the series 2-1.
"Help us secure our home-ice advantage and prevent us from being penalized for unnecessary reasons. Please don't throw anything on the ice and thank you for being the best fans in the National Hockey League," Laviolette added.
Nashville have lost only one game at home during the postseason.
The origins of the catfish toss are unclear, but the tradition has endured despite repeated attempts by authorities to prevent it.
Jacob Waddell, the Predators fan who heaved the catfish onto the rink in Game 1, has been charged by police in Pittsburgh with disorderly conduct, possessing instruments of crime and disrupting meetings and processions.
In an interview with Nashville radio he explained how he smuggled the dead fish into Pittsburgh's PPG Paints Arena.
"I drove it up there. Drove with my wife, my family up there, had it in a cooler, sprayed it down with cologne," he said. "I had two pairs of underwear on. I had regular underwear on, and I had compression shorts on and I slid it between the two and walked right in," Waddell told 104.5 The Zone in Nashville.
"It was just a dumb redneck with a bad idea, and it's turned into all this," he said.