Month: December 2021

A bit ‘o Al the Octopus…slinger

Red Wings building manager Al Sobotka spoke with the Seattle Times’ Geoff Baker regarding the art of twirling octopi:

As the Kraken made their first appearance in an “Original Six” market here Wednesday night, they had to hope Sobotka wouldn’t become a part of the show yet again. Besides driving the Zamboni, Sobotka, 68, is the guy in charge of picking up dead octopuses — yes, you read that correctly — thrown on the ice by fans at Little Caesars Arena. He is known to get somewhat rambunctious about it.

“Usually I grab it, give it a twirl and it riles up the crowd,” said Sobotka, who began working Red Wings games in 1971-72. “We had two this year, I believe, and I swung one here a few games ago. And of course the crowd got all going, and we won the game.”

That Nov. 13 game saw the Red Wings fall behind Montreal 1-0 before Dylan Larkin tied things up in the second period, prompting the octopus toss from the stands. After Sobotka got the crowd going with a lasso-style twirl, Detroit scored again a minute later and wound up winning in overtime.

The so-called Legend of the Octopus tradition dates to 1952 when Detroit fishmongers Pete and Jerry Cusimano realized the creatures had eight tentacles — then the number of playoff wins needed to capture the Stanley Cup. The Red Wings were 7-0 that postseason and looking to become the first NHL team to enjoy a perfect playoff run, which they did by winning their eighth game after the Cusimano brothers threw their octopus on the ice.

Initially, the creatures would be thrown only in playoff games, either after the national anthem was played or when the Red Wings had scored. But because the team has not made the postseason since 2015-16, some fans throw them after regular-season goals.

Things haven’t always gone smoothly for lifelong Detroit resident Sobotka during his performances.

“I’ve had a tentacle break off,” he said. “And once somebody threw one that was partially frozen, so I couldn’t really twirl it.”

Continued

Tweet of note: BSD’s John Keating interviews Kraken announcer and Detroit native Everett Fitzhugh

Enjoy:

The NHL’s 32nd franchise makes its FIRST visit to Detroit. The voice of the team is Detroit native, Everett Fitzhugh, who was named the first Black NHL team broadcaster, by the expansion club. Hear how the hockey trailblazer earned his start at 31. pic.twitter.com/yPHL4BOrLI— Bally Sports Detroit (@BallySportsDET) December 2, 2021

Prospect Round-up Europe: Viro nears 20 minutes with TPS; Larsson stops 22 in loss

Of prospect-related note in Europe on Wednesday:

In the Finnish Liiga, if I’m reading the stats right, Eemil Viro finished even with 8 shots in 19:20 played as TPS Turku won 2-1 over Assat Pori;

In the Swedish Allsvenskan, Filip Larsson stopped 22 of 24 shots as HV71 Jonkoping lost 3-1 to Mora IK. Albin Grewe did not play for Mora as he has a concussion;

And in the Swedish J20 league, Liam Dower Nilsson didn’t post a point in Frolunda HC’s 3-1 win over Oskarshamn.

Kulfan’s notebook: Wings’ defensive habits improve

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan filed a game-day notebook article discussing the Red Wings’ improved defensive play on the road:

The Wings’ 2-1 victory was a testament to a different-looking Wings team.

“A week ago, I don’t think we played as mature as we did tonight,” said coach Jeff Blashill after the victory. “Again, some of it stems from the fact that we had a chance to practice, got a chance to get our habits back and get our structure back.

“But also, we’ve got a lot of young players in important roles, and I even as a team sometimes, veteran players have to kind of remind themselves what it takes to be a winning-type hockey team. We took steps forward that way.”

Goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic continued his recent hot streak with 41 saves, but Blashill didn’t feel many of those Bruins shots were quality scoring chances.

After a brief defensive dip on the trip through Columbus, Dallas, Vegas and Arizona — the Wings didn’t win any of those games — Detroit has rediscovered its defensive structure with some time to practice and rededicate itself to that part of the game.

“From a defensive standpoint, with the exception of a little bit in the second period when we left the puck in our zone when we should’ve got it out, we did a much better job of playing good defensively, of managing the puck at our line, and overall being pretty disciplined,” Blashill said.

Continued

Press release: Carter Mazur named NCHC rookie of the month

Of note from the Denver University Pioneers’ website:

Carter Mazur Named NCHC Rookie of the Month for November

DENVER – Freshman Carter Mazur of the Denver Pioneers hockey team has been named the NCHC Rookie of the Month for November, the conference announced on Wednesday.
 
Mazur, 19, led all first-year players in the league in scoring during the month, registering five goals and two assists in six games. He tied for Denver’s overall scoring lead in November with sophomore Carter Savoie (5g/2a) and is currently on a four-game goal streak. The four-game stretch with a marker is the longest of Mazur’s career and the longest of the season by a Pioneer.
 
The Jackson, Michigan, native tallied a career-high three points (1g/2a) on Nov. 12 vs. Western Michigan, which included recording his first collegiate game-winning goal. He scored again the next night and went on to earn NCHC Rookie of the Week honors for Nov. 8-14—the first conference honor of his career.
 
After tallying on Nov. 19 vs. Miami, Mazur picked up his second multi-goal game of the season the following day as the Pioneers defeated the RedHawks 7-1 at Magness Arena to stretch the team’s winning streak to four games. The forward closed the month by posting a plus-7 rating in the final four games.
 
Mazur’s seven goals on the year are tied for the national lead by a freshman and ranks tied for second on the team in the category with fellow frosh Massimo Rizzo, as only Savoie has tallied more times (11).
 
This is the Pioneers’ second NCHC monthly honor of the season after Rizzo was named Rookie of the Month for October. This is the first time that Denver has picked up consecutive NCHC Rookie of the Month awards.
 
Mazur is now eligible for the Hockey Commissioners’ Association (HCA) National Rookie of the Month, which will be announced on Thursday.
 
Selected by his hometown Detroit Red Wings in the third round of the 2021 NHL Draft (70th overall), Mazur was named to Team USA’s preliminary roster for the 2022 IIHF World Junior Championship on Tuesday. He’ll be one of 31 players looking to make the 25-man squad when USA Hockey’s training camp begins on Dec. 12 in Plymouth, Michigan.
 
Western Michigan’s Ethen Frank was named the NCHC Player of the Month, while Ryan Fanti of Minnesota Duluth earned conference honors as the Goaltender of the Month.

Tweet/video of note: Button discusses Team Canada’s goaltending, Sebastian Cossa included

Of Twitter-to-video note this afternoon: TSN’s Craig Button (at the 1:45 mark of the attached video, which is available for viewing in the U.S. as well as Canada) discusses the goaltending situation for Team Canada, which has invited Red Wings prospect Sebastian Cossa to its World Junior Selection Camp.

From @CraigJButton: Who is expected to emerge as the starting goalie for Canada ?? at the #WorldJuniors? https://t.co/XfeZlxrD1z#TSNHockey pic.twitter.com/9Lr8OAy40F— TSN Hockey (@TSNHockey) December 1, 2021

Button believes that “it’s presumptuous to say” who will be named the starter, but he feels that Dylan Garand has an edge, despite Cossa’s size and economy of movement (starting at 3:25).