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It’s not incredibly rare to see stuff get thrown onto the ice at an NHL game, whether we’re talking about the headwear that gets lobbed onto the rink to celebrate a hat trick or disgruntled fans who opt to protest the sorry state of a franchise by giving their jersey the same treatment. However, to my knowledge, there’s only been one game that was temporarily delayed by a live chicken with bladder control issues.
If you’re familiar with the Detroit Red Wings, you probably know spectators at the team’s arena are known for routinely throwing a dead octopus on the ice thanks to a strange tradition that can trace its origins back to the Stanley Cup Finals in 1952.
Fans of the Florida Panthers have also engaged in a similar pastime since the franchise staged an unlikely run to the Finals in 1996, a year that was defined by the supposedly “lucky” plastic rats that frequently rained down from the stands.
The Los Angeles Kings, on the other hand, don’t have a history of those types of antics, but we were nonetheless treated to one of the strangest scenes to ever unfold during an NHL game thanks to what transpired when they faced off against the Canadiens in 1988.
A Kings-Canadiens game was delayed by a live chicken that peed on the ice after getting tossed by a fan
ESPN
Fans of the Kings didn’t really have a ton to root for when Los Angeles hosted the Canadiens at The Forum on March 8, 1988; the home squad had posted an abysmal 25-38-5 record up to that point, and while they managed to limp their way into the playoffs, it wasn’t a huge shock to see them get eliminated in the first round.
The Canadiens, on the other hand, were clicking on all cylinders, as they headed to L.A. sitting at 37-20-10 and would end up finishing just a couple of points behind the Flames (who sent the Kings packing in the postseason) in the race for the Presidents’ Trophy.
Montreal was also riding a seven-game winning streak, and while they managed to extend that number to eight with a 7-6 win in overtime, the game was a surprisingly competitive one. With that said, it didn’t look like that was going to end up being the case at the start, as the Canadiens pulled out to a 4-1 lead with the help of three goals that were scored in the span of 73 seconds toward the middle of the first period.
Things took an interesting turn in the waning minutes of that frame when an object suddenly appeared on the ice in Montreal’s offensive zone.
It didn’t take long for the announcers in the broadcast booth to inform viewers it was, in fact, a live chicken wearing a purple cape that spent more than a minute sitting in a puddle of its own urine as the game inexplicably continued.
The chicken’s first (and only) NHL shift lasted a grand total of one minute and fifteen seconds, and it had some close encounters with players and the puck before the officials finally blew a whistle to halt play.
The chicken caused a brief delay before it was transported off of the playing surface in a plastic container and ended up being treated for minor bruising after being placed in the custody of the Los Angeles County Animal Control Department.
A 30-year-old fan named Craig Rodenfels was eventually arrested and charged with “malicious mischief and cruelty to animals” after police determined he smuggled the chicken into the arena in a sack before throwing it onto the ice (it apparently wasn’t the first time he’d brought the animal into the venue, but police said they weren’t allowed to take any action before he threw it because he technically hadn’t violated any laws before tossing it over the glass from the front row).
It’s unclear what happened to the chicken in the wake of the incident, but it’ll always have a place in NHL history.