Springtime Playoff Hockey Notes: Octopus on Ice & Americans in Canada

From The New York Times:

In today's (May 20, 2007) New York Times, Jeff Z. Klein and Karl-Eric Reif report of an interesting lineup in this year's Junior Hockey Championships of Canada.

The Memorial Cup tournament this year includes more than one American team for the first time in its 89-year history.

Among the four teams playing for the title are the Plymouth Whalers, a Michigan team that won the Ontario Hockey League, and the Lewiston Maineiacs, champions of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

The other teams in the tournament, which began Friday and ends with the championship game in Vancouver on May 27, are the Medicine Hat Tigers and the Vancouver Giants of the Western Hockey League.

The first American team to win the Memorial Cup was the Portland Winter Hawks in 1983. Teams from the United States have won it twice since then.

Plymouth has seven American players on its roster. Lewiston has two.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/20/sports/hockey/20hockey.html

Also in The New York Times:

Al Sobotka, the Zamboni driver at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, has made a name for himslef twirling an octopus, a ritual at home playoff games.

What's that all about ? You can read about it in this "Cheering Section" column by Vincent M. Mallozzi on The Sunday New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/20/sports/hockey/20cheer.html?_r=1&oref=slogin