Remembering Alex Delvecchio

That is the great player, Alex Delvecchio, an integral and great member of the last 3 Detroit Red Wings title teams before a 42 year title drought that ended in 1997, who died days back at age 93, pictured above.

Perhaps he is headed for a good “above” maybe with Gordie (Howe), Ted (Lindsay) and the incomparable netminder Terry Sawchuk, all 4 with others, part of the 1952 Red Wings who swept through the NHL ‘offs, going (8-0) in the magnificent 6 team NHL.

So limited was the coverage of this great player’s death. Let’s entertain and cite the fact that the (8-0) Red Wings/”Vogues” (ode to an animal) ‘offs feat of ’52 is the reason octopi are thrown on the ice in celebration of Red Wings positive exploits.

Delvecchio won the Lady Byng Trophy for positive sportsmanship three times and his number 10 hangs from the rafters as tribute to him, as a great player on one of sports great franchises.

Octopus or octopi, octopusses, octopedes representing eight/8 and after the ’52 Red Wings did it, the team, the great broadcaster Danny Gallivan called the best and personal favorite, the 1960 Montreal Canadiens also (8-0’d) to the title.

The three plurals for octopus come from the different ways the English language adopts plurals. Octopi is the oldest plural of octopus, coming from the belief that words of Latin origin should have Latin endings. Octopuses was the next plural, giving the word an English ending to match its adoption as an English word. Lastly, octopodes stemmed from the belief that because octopus is originally Greek, it should have a Greek ending.