Weirdest Things Thrown Onto the Ice in NHL

You know what it's like, you're at the game and either the umpire makes a bad call, or you get pretty excited about a top move. Most people content themselves with shouting, whooping or sharing their opinion with buddies, but some take things a little further.

Over the years, there have been some weird and wonderful items thrown onto the ice. Some expected, some more of a surprise…and not a particularly pleasant one…

Here’s a look at some of the strangest items that have been seen on the ice in the NHL.

OK, it might not exactly have been a Great White, but the NHL has seen sharks thrown onto the ice not once, but twice - by the same fans.

In 2007, a group of San Jose Sharks fans smuggled a shark into the stadium, planning to throw it onto the ice in response to the Detroit Red Wings' habit of throwing octopus. The manoeuvre went as planned, but the group of fans were identified and thrown out. 

Undeterred, they decided to try again. In 2010 the individuals returned, smuggling in a three-foot leopard shark that had a frozen octopus stitched into its mouth. They took advantage of a momentarily darkened stadium and hurled the dead fish onto the ice - leaving stewards with no idea of the culprits this time.

No one wants to see rodents in the locker room, and NHL player Scott Mellanby achieved cult hero status when he caught one. The rat dared to scamper across the floor in the Panthers' locker room, but Mellanby stepped in to kill it with his stick. During that game, he went on to score two goals with the same stick that he'd used to get rid of the rat.

Fans were so impressed by his manoeuvre that hundreds of them started bringing plastic and rubber rats to the games, throwing them onto the ice after a goal. By the time the team reached the Cup Finals in 1996, thousands of the critters were hurled over the barrier for the weary stewards to sweep up.

In 2002, a real rat was thrown onto the ice - but that wasn’t a Panthers’ fan paying tribute to Mellanby. The dead rodent was chucked from the second deck at the Philadelphia 76ers vs Utah Jazz game. Who knows why they chose a rat?!

Just to prove that not everything that appears on the ice is grim, we’re finishing up with the story of Curtis Lazar’s reaction to food appearing.

Signing for the Ottawa Senators in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft, the young player was on the ice when fans decided to pay tribute to the goalie Andrew The Hamburglar Hammond in the only appropriate way: by throwing their burgers onto the ice.

It's something that's happened before at Ottawa, but what made this different is that Lazar bent down, scooped up the burger and proceeded to take a big bite. News columns were full of speculation about the dangers of eating food off the floor, but the player suffered no ill effects. And as journalist Brian Smith drily observed, "…if someone tosses a hamburger at me, I'm eating it too!"