Detroit fans have their storied tradition of throwing an octopus onto the ice at Joe Louis Arena. Phoenix fans, by comparison, don't have as much playoff history to fall back on, but there has to be some way to counter the Wings in their first round playoff series, right?

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Yes. Throw the snake, of course.

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If you're a hockey fan and you're on Twitter, you probably saw the hash tag #ThrowTheSnake at least once this morning. Here's the story behind it. Chemmy aka @felixpotvin on Twitter, a writer at SB Nation's Maple Leafs blog, Pension Plan Puppets, had an idea for SBN's 'Yotes writer at Five For Howling, Travis Hair aka @travishair on Twitter.

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The start:



â†µ @TravisHair holler at me when you wake up, I have an idea. â†µ

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The idea:

â†µ RT if you want @TravisHair to throw a rattlesnake on the ice for game one of Wings - Coyotes. #ThrowTheSnake â†µ

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And from there it took off. 39-plus re-tweets. The number one trending topic in Canada. It took on a life of its own, getting to the point where Travis himself didn't even know what was going on. Slowly though, it's actually becoming a serious thought. Travis' wife chimed in via an email to him supporting the idea, calling it his "cultural obligation", "an opportunity to make a tangible impact" in a city with a "weak fan culture."

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From there, the planning actually got going, with fans from several teams chiming in about getting rubber snakes shipped to Arizona in bulk. Could it actually happen? Could a little thought, started as a joke, turn into a tradition in the the Desert?