Rats are back as Panthers excite fans
Thousands of plastic toys thrown onto ice after wins
Rat fever has sprung up 20 years after the first wave rocked South Florida.
In 1996, Panthers forward Scott Mellanby took his hockey stick and one-timed a rat in the Florida dressing room. Then he went out and scored two goals with fur still stuck to the tape on his stick blade.
Goaltender John Vanbiesbrouck dubbed it the “rat trick” and a legend was born. Fans began tossing toy rats on the ice and the Panthers rode the tide to the Stanley Cup final before falling to Colorado.
The ritual was so popular that the NHL ruled a home team could be given a penalty for anything tossed on the ice after goals or during play. So Panthers fans would flood the ice after victories at home, rather than tossing them during the game. The league later created a special exemption allowing for the traditional tossing of hats onto the ice following a hat trick goal.
In1996, current Panthers coach Gerard Gallant was at home in Summerside, P.E.I., watching hometown native Doug MacLean coach the Panthers on that incredible run. Gallant’s players are building something special like those Cup finalists from 1996 and, yes, the rats are back. Whenever the team wins, fans litter the ice with thousands of plastic rats.
“There’s more rats than ever right now,” said 23-year-old centre Nick Bjugstad, who was only three at the time of the 1996 charge. “They’re running out of them at stores like Party City. All my neighbours are asking where to get them. I can’t tell them because I don’t know.
“It’s pretty funny to see them on the ice. They’re scattered everywhere.”
Bjugstad learned about the legend when he arrived in Florida four seasons ago. The story is passed on through the players.
It certainly helps that the team is winning. Going into Thursday night’s game against the Maple Leafs, the Panthers led the Atlantic Division. And like the 1996 team, there is a blend of young, inexperienced stars, journeyman players and veteran leaders.
Back then the lineup had a 19-yearold defenceman in Ed Jovanovski and journeymen like Brian Skrudland and Vanbiesbrouck, who were both 32.
Today’s lineup features 20-year-old defenceman Aaron Ekblad, who won the NHL’s top rookie award last season, and veterans like Jaromir Jagr, 44, and 38-year-old Shawn Thornton.
Panthers coach Gallant said he “hopes” there are similarities to this year’s group. But he wasn’t allowing himself to make any comparisons yet.
“We’ve got a long way to go,” Gallant said. “We’ve still got to get into the playoffs right now.”