"Kevin B. Powers" <[log in to unmask]> writes:
>I remember going to a UNH game about 4 years ago, and a friend who was an
>alumni told me about 'the fish' after the first home goal.  Well, UNH
>scores late in the first period. As soon as the light goes on, here
>comes the rink attendants onto the ice to clean up the fish that has not
>even been thrown yet (it did makes its appearance a few seconds later).
>The announcement is made, and nothing else is thrown.
 
The UNH fish seems to get brought up here at least once a year.  I
think it should be noted this is an entirely different situation than
many of the other ones that have been mentioned.  The whole deal with
a fish being thrown on the ice after UNH's first goal at home has been
planned out to a T.  Only one fish is thrown, and only one person
throws it.
 
And as Kevin says, everyone knows it is coming, and the rink crew is
prepared to clean it up so that there is no delay.  The announcement
is made about a penalty for the throwing of any more objects because
it is required by the NCAA.  There is really no need for the
announcement in this case because no one else would throw anything
anyway.  That's been my experience with games I have seen at UNH.  If
there have been cases where people threw additional items, they would
have to have been isolated incidents, because I don't think I have
seen any.  UNH's PA announcer must know the words of the announcement
better than almost anyone else, however.
 
If I remember correctly, the tradition goes back to late coach Bob
Kullen in the 1980s.  I believe Kullen himself was involved in
establishing the tradition.  I thought I had heard that the school
itself even purchased the fish (or used to - maybe at first), but I do
not know.  Note that the fish is bought at a local supermarket...they
do not go out and catch a fish just to throw it on the ice.
 
NESN did a feature on the fish once, and I thought they mentioned that
the fish gets donated afterwards to a shelter or something.  But I can
testify that once during my tenure as manager at Northeastern, around
1988, the fish ended up in the cargo hold of the NU bus.
 
This just in, Carol writes:
>NOTHING else should be tossed onto the ice. Period. No octopi,
>no fish, no dead gophers or badgers, etc.
 
I have to disagree on the fish, Carol.  The UNH fish is a unique
tradition in college hockey that doesn't hurt anybody.  It began and
continues with the acceptance of both the school and the opposing
teams.  I don't know of anybody who actually sees UNH play and who
opposes the practice, not even opposing teams or fans.  And I have
"endured" the fish with two different opposing teams. :-)  "endured"
because obviously, you hope you won't see the fish at all when you go
there!  And since UNH has not been shut out at home since 11/25/89,
chances are pretty good you will see the fish.  (Minnesota, 4-0)
 
Well, the one guy who may have opposed the fish would have been an
assistant coach from Yale about seven years ago.  The fish tosser, who
used to sit behind the team benches at Snively, slipped and dropped
the fish on the coach's head.  Whoops.  And this isn't a guppy we're
talking about.  It's a pretty big fish.
 
Someone from UNH should put together a Fish FAQ.  It's a great topic
that is unique to the school and people always seem to wonder about
it.  I asked former UNH SID Eric McDowell about it back about 5-6 years
ago, and that's where I learned some of the history.  Also, several
years ago, in between periods of a Merrimack @ UNH game, I interviewed
the official fish tosser on the air.  That was different.
 
Once I went to an exhibition game at UNH, and instead of the fish,
they threw a box of Mrs. Paul's Fish Sticks.  They called it
"exhibition fish".  Another time, during Christmas break, they threw a
can of Chicken of the Sea tuna fish.  That was "break fish".
 
Probably my only opposition to the fish comes when someone at UNH
tries to take the fish "on the road", like in the HE or NCAA
tournaments.  It's better kept at home where it can be handled the
right way and everyone knows what to expect.  Some of the times I have
seen it on the road, the opposing rink crew took a while to come out
and clean it up because they weren't ready.  That is a problem partly
because it causes a delay, although I suppose the opposing coach
doesn't mind the free timeout.
---                                                                   ---
Mike Machnik                 [log in to unmask]           [log in to unmask]
Cabletron Systems, Inc.                                    *HMM* 11/13/93
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