Breaking News

The Nashville Predators fan who chucked a DEAD CATFISH on the ice during game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals has been hit with criminal charges … officials say. 

Officials say 36-year-old Jacob Waddell smuggled the dead fish into PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh on Monday — and flung it onto the ice as the Preds took on the Pittsburgh Penguins. 

FYI, the catfish toss has become a tradition at Predators home games … so doing it on the road is really like a slap in the face to the opposing team. 

Waddell has bragged online that he snuck the fish into the arena by vacuum sealing it and stuffing it into his shorts … then unwrapping it in a bathroom once inside. 

He unleashed the fish in the 2nd period. 

Waddell was immediately escorted out of the building — and now, prosecutors in Pittsburgh have charged him with disorderly conduct, possessing instruments of crime and disrupting meetings/processions. 

It’s kind of a big deal — if convicted on all counts he could face around 6 years behind bars.  

The Preds lost the game 5-3, but Waddell is being hailed as a hero in Nashville … just ask Carrie Underwood, who tweeted, “My hero.”

My hero…