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Saginaw Spirit fans’ walleye-tossing tradition nixed by OHL
The Ontario Hockey League is apparently bent on giving the NFL a run for its money as the no-fun league.
There is a strange phenomena with a spontaneous fan tradition in hockey: it can't be programmed, planned for or workshopped by a marketing committee. So it is with a tinge of sadness that one has to pass along the news the OHL has cracked down on Saginaw Spirits' fans essentially harmless and light-hearted tradition of tossing walleye on the ice after the home team scores during the playoffs.
The league has not been as vehement about calling attention to its written policy that spectators who throw objects on the ice will be ejected on other occasions when fans got their throw on. Yet OHL vice-president Ted Baker is enforcing the policy now, claiming the practice never came to the league's attention since Saginaw is a relatively less publicized team that has not had many extended playoff runs during its decade in mid-Michigan. Question: is strained credulity classified as an upper- or lower-body injury?
From Kyle Austin:
Baker said the OHL first became aware of the practice following Sunday's Game 2 between the Spirit and London Knights, through both a league director of officials who was present and through a phone call from the London Free Press.
Sunday's game was the fourth playoff game the Spirit have hosted this year.
"That was the first time that we had become aware of it, that it was transpiring in these playoffs," Baker said. "Given that Saginaw had only played one round, and that's our fault."
Baker said the lack of a Spirit television broadcast helped the practice go unnoticed by the league office.
The league's policy against objects being thrown on the ice is in place "for the safety and welfare of the players and the spectators and for the integrity of the game," Baker said, noting the OHL's policy is similar to the NHL's policy. (Saginaw News)
Such is the age of arbitrary rule we seem to be living in. When it comes to spectators throwing objects on the ice, shouldn't common sense rule the day? No one's ever been ejected for heaving a hat on to the ice to celebrate a player's third goal of the game.
Junior leagues regularly soak up the publicity that comes with the Teddy Bear Toss tradition during the Christmas season. Were the Spirit given a warning to nip any action in the bud five seasons ago when Comedy Central sarcastic pundit Stephen Colbert, during the year when he became a celebrity Spirit fan, instructed viewers to not throw printouts of General Motors' annual report on to the ice during an Oshawa Generals-Saginaw game?
Point being, not everything that happens in a hockey arena needs to be sanitized for spectators' own good. Were fans in Saginaw complaining? Did visiting spectators have a beef with the serving of fish?
This reeks a little of inventing a crisis. Inquiring minds must wonder why this was enforced now. Spirit president Craig Goslin told Austin the flying fish have never caused a problem:
"The fans in Saginaw for 10 years have really enjoyed the process of this because it's the walleye capital of the world. They've been very respectful of the game, it never has slowed the game down." (Saginaw News)
It all seems, honestly, a bit fishy, and it took a lot of restraint to go this deep into the post without using such an obvious pun. Ryan Pyette, the London beat writer who raised the matter with the league, pointed out this is a relatively benign ritual.
It all seems like harmless fun. The big question, though, is whether or not this is something to be encouraged.
Throwing stuff on the ice is normally frowned upon in hockey. It's a safety issue.
However, there's a long history of it in hockey. Hat tricks are celebrated with headgear heading towards the rink.
In Florida, plastic rats are sure to fly at Panthers games and the most famous example is, of course, the octopus that routinely revs fans up at Joe Louis Arena for Detroit Red Wings games. (London Free Press)
Common sense would dictate that fans throwing certain objects on the ice or throwing them out of anger should be curbed. But applying zero tolerance to a practice which hasn't caused a single injury comes off heavy-handed. Good policy comes from thinking something through.
Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Contact him at neatesager@yahoo.ca and follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet.
