An Angry Predators Fan Mailed the NHL Office Some Catfish
It's safe to say people are mad about the NHL's latest controversial goalie interference ruling in Nashville Tuesday night. With less than a second remaining in regulation, Filip Forsberg found a puck loose in the crease and tucked it past Panthers goalie Roberto Luongo to level the score at two apiece. But the league's Situation Room in Toronto immediately reviewed the goal, and ruled that Preds forward Viktor Arvidsson contacted Luongo, causing the puck to come loose so Forsberg could put it home.
Then came the fallout. Predator players were clearly frustrated, and celebrities took to Twitter to express their disgust. But an "ordinary" fan decided to take matters into her own hands—by mailing the NHL's offices some catfish.
Predators fans have been throwing catfish onto the ice as celebration since 2003, according to the Tenneseean, seemingly an homage to the long-standing tradition of throwing octopi onto the ice in Detroit. Inspired by a half-joking suggestion from a rant on Facebook, Briley Meeks of Goodlettsville, Tennessee, sealed up a pair of catfish in a cooler and shipped them off to Toronto.
"One minute I was sitting on my couch, the next minute I was going to buy fish and shipping it to Canada," Meeks told ESPN's Greg Wyshynski. "It wasn't the refs in the game that made the call. It was Toronto. So they deserve the dead catfish."
The cost of the fish, packaging and international shipping amounted to about $150, all for what Meeks calls a big practical joke.
"I hope they're not mad about it. It's just a prank," she told Wyshynski. "But we got robbed. The players were stunned. Even the Panthers players and fans knew it was a bad call too."