More Octo-shenanigans
Well now, this is getting ridiculous, isn't it?
The NHL's ban on Al Sobotka's pregame octopus swinging continues to get even more cumbersome. For Saturday's Game 2 against Colorado, standby referee Don Van Massenhoven was stationed at the zamboni entrance to handle the octopus(es) brought off the ice by the linesmen.
Last game, as you'll remember, Sobotka waited and waited for the linesmen to do his old job for him -- there's a skill to it, they discovered -- then after they brought the octopus to him, he swung it in the tunnel, and the fans roared as the JLA jumbotron showed him twirling in exile.
Saturday, Van Massenhoven was there to make sure that didn't happen, apparently. The first octopus was picked up by Avs rookie Cody McLeod, who taunted the Wings' bench with his catch and then hurled it over the visitors' bench and into the crowd. But the two splats that followed at the other end of the ice -- a message to the NHL front office, I'd say -- were scooped up by linesmen, who then passed them down the chain of command, bypassing Sobotka.
At some point, you'd think the NHL brass would come to their senses. But maybe that's just wishful thinking.
