Rats! Hockey History Florida Style

It's not too often that I get to talk about hockey history of the Florida Panthers. But how time flies. Still one of the league's newest franchises, its hard to believe its been over ten years since John Vanbiesbrouck, Scott Mellanby, Dave Lowry and host of other journeymen and 1000s of plastic rats led the Panthers just shy of a Stanley Cup championship.

This weekend, over 11,000 fans celebrated the 1996 Florida Panthers in a alumni game/gathering. And yes, the rats did rain down on the ice after each goal. Most of the team was back together, including captain Brian Skrudland, scoring hero Bill Lindsay and the young buck at the time who left Florida to become a superstar Ed Jovanovski.

The Panthers did a great job of reconnecting with the past, and memories and stories were told freely. Good job guys.