Predators’ catfish guy cleared of charges

The Predators fan who threw a catfish on the ice during Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final won’t face charges. 

During Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final, a Nashville Predators fan snuck a catfish into PPG Paints Arena. He threw it onto the ice during a stoppage of play. The fan was immediately ejected and faced potential criminal charges. However, he won’t be facing any legal discipline for continuing Nashville’s weird tradition.

"Waddell was charged Tuesday with three misdemeanors: disorderly conduct, possessing an instrument of crime and disrupting a meeting. He said during an interview on a Nashville radio station Tuesday that the latter two charges were “trumped up” and was confident they’d be dropped. He was more understanding of the disorderly conduct charge but that was also dropped"

It’s good to hear he won’t be facing charges. If anything, what he did is hilarious and a tradition. It didn’t even delay the game that much. The disorderly conduct is understandable, but the other two charges seemed weird. His fines were going to be paid by a Nashville radio station, but it appears he won’t have to take them up on that offer.

The catfish nearly gave his team good luck. After throwing the southern treat, Nashville scored three unanswered goals to tie the game. However, Jake Guentzel’s game winning goal put the Penguins ahead and Nick Bonino’s empty net goal ensured a Pittsburgh victory.

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Pens fans are getting serious about banning catfish from their arena. A local fish market has banned the sale of the southern delicacy to anyone from Tennessee. But don’t worry, Nashville fans will still find a way to continue tossing them onto the ice. It’s not going away anytime soon, so you might as well embrace it.