Blockbuster Video magnate Wayne Huizenga was awarded an NHL franchise for his
native Miami in 1992. the team played at the Miami Arena, and its first major
stars were New York Rangers goaltender castoff John Vanbiesbrouck, rookie Rob
Niedermayer, and Scott Mellanby, who scored 30 goals. they had one of the most
successful first seasons of any expansion team, finishing one point below .500
and narrowly missing out on the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
After missing another close brush with the playoffs in 1994-95, coach Roger
Neilson was fired and replaced by Doug MacLean. they then acquired Ray Sheppard
from the San Jose Sharks on the trade deadline in 1996 and they looked towards
the playoffs for the first time. |
Florida Panthers Hockey |
the 1996 playoffs were a dream for the Panthers. they upset the Boston Bruins,
Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins to reach the Stanley Cup finals.
South Florida was euphoric. Against Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, series
comebacks were part of the astonishment.
It came to an end in the Stanley Cup finals though. their opponents, the
Colorado Avalanche, would sweep the Panthers on Uwe Krupp's third-overtime goal
in game 4. the next season, a team ravaged by injuries would lose to the New
York Rangers on the first round. More injuries caused the team to have their
worst record to that point in 1997-98.
the Panthers moved into the National Car Rental Center (now known as
BankAtlantic Center) in 1998, the new arena being the result of bickering and
threatening to move the team. In 1999, they acquired Pavel Bure (the "Russian
Rocket"), in a blockbuster trade with the Vancouver Canucks. they would reach
the playoffs again in 2000 riding on his 58 goals, losing in the first round to
the eventual Stanley Cup Champion New Jersey Devils.
the team slumped in the 2000-01 NHL season despite a 59 goal season from Bure.
the following season, 2001-02, the Panthers would have their worst record ever.
Bure struggled despite being reunited with his brother Valeri, and was traded to
the New York Rangers on the 2002 trading deadline.
the Rat Story
With an hour to go before face-off on in the home opener of the 1995-96 NHL
season against the Calgary Flames, a live rat dashed about the Panthers' locker
room.
Scott Mellanby, the future captain, remembers, "Guys were jumping out of the way
and screaming. It made a beeline right towards me." So, Mellanby, armed with his
stick let his fine-tuned instincts take over. He one-timed the rat with a slap
of his stick against the locker room wall. "I one-timed it," said Scott, "and it
was dead."
Soon, a tradition would be born. That night Mellanby scored two goals in a 4-3
win. Goalie John Vanbiesbrouck called it a "rat trick." Later that night in the
locker room, an unidentified team member marked the spot on the wall with a
circle and inscription "R.I.P. Rat 1." Two games later, on 13 October 1995, the
team's third home game which was a 6-2 win against Ottawa, two rubber rats hit
the ice after a Panther goal. This was the first recorded rat throwing. the next
game the total was 16 and the game after that it was 50. By the time the
playoffs began, the per-game rat count exceeded 2,000. |
