Throwing Out the Fish



Throwing Out the Fish is a tradition at New Hampshire Wildcats men's ice hockey games. The tradition involves the throwing of a large fish over the boards onto the ice aimed at the opposing team's net after the first goal is scored by UNH.

According to former UNH assistant coach Bob Norton the tradition dates back to the early 1970's. "It goes back to when we were playing a Division II team, and our program had gone way past theirs. I remember (the UNH fans) threw out this little dinky thing and they called it a Division II fish. I guess they were trying to tell them they weren't worthy of a first-rate fish."

This tradition caught on as a local fraternity made it a ritual to throw out the fish after UNH's first goal. The fish was used to resemble the visiting team, "fishing the puck out of the net."

Former coach Dick Umile also got involved in the tradition in the early 1990's. At that time, the home team received a penalty if fans threw objects on the ice. "At all these different rinks people were throwing things--tennis balls, newspapers --and it was really holding up the game," Umile recalls. "It's the Maine weekend, and the cops won't let the kid in with the fish. I'm in the office before the game, and the students come to get me. So I go down there, get the fish from the cops, and we're walking in with the fish in the bag. The kids say, 'But coach, we're going to get a penalty.' I say, 'Don't worry about it. We'll kill the penalty. Just throw the fish.'"