Hockey game in Nashville is disrupted after a man threw a CATFISH on the ice, just missing players

Usually you will need to go to a frozen lake or pond and drill a hole in the ice to find some fish at this time of year. But in Nashville, it seems like all you have to do is go to a hockey game.

He reeling The Nashville Predators hosted the NHL-leading Boston Bruins on Thursday night at Bridgestone Arena and found themselves trailing 4-0 late in the second period.

Apparently one fan wanted to inject some energy into the crowd, or perhaps was protesting the poor performance, when he tossed a catfish onto the glass and onto the ice.

Cameras caught the fish flying across the ice while the puck was still in play, prompting the umpires to blow a whistle and kill the play.

While the fish did not hit a player, landing somewhere between Predators defenseman Ryan McDonagh and Bruins center Charlie Coyle, announcers were quick to criticize the fan for the timing of the release.

A Nashville Predators fan tossed a catfish onto the ice at Thursday night’s game against Boston.

The catfish fell into the circle on the left during the game and did not see two players who were skating nearby.

This sight is not uncommon in Nashville, which has seen catfish flying over the ice since 1999, according to The Tennessean.

While dating back a long time, the sight of flying catfish became more common in Nashville in the mid to late 2010s, when the team made several runs in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

During the 2017 Stanley Cup Finals, a fan from Nashville traveled to Pittsburgh when the team was playing the Penguins and let the fish fly.

But that fan, Jake Waddell, was caught by police and charged with disorderly conduct, disrupting a meeting, and possession of a criminal instrument.

Those charges were eventually dropped, and the catfish continued to pound the ice for the remainder of that series.

Nashville isn’t the only hockey franchise known for throwing aquatic creatures onto the ice.

Since 1952, fans of the Detroit Red Wings they’ve been throwing octopuses on the ice – with the eight legs of the octopus representing the eight wins a team needed to lift Lord Stanley’s trophy.

These days, a team needs to win 16 games to get their hands on the cup, but the tradition lives on in Detroit, so much so that the octopus turned into a pet for the team.

Nashville fans aren’t the only ones dumping sea creatures: Detroit has dumped octopuses on ice for decades since 1952.

Since then, a large octopus named ‘Al’ has become the team’s mascot.

The game did not end well for Nashville, with Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman holding a shutout.

Swayman stopped 28 shots on the night en route to a dominant 5-0 win for the Bruins

If that fan’s intent was to energize the team to inspire a comeback, their efforts were in vain.

Boston scored another goal and held the shutout to win the game 5-0 on the road.

Goalkeeper Jeremy Swayman saved 28 shots to keep the score clean, with goals from Brad Marchand, Craig Smith, Patrice Bergeron, Derek Forbort and Trent Frederic.

The Bruins are atop the NHL standings with 87 points, while Nashville is struggling to stay in the playoff race currently five points away from a wild card berth.