Some Panthers aficionados out there take their love of the game to another level. From team tattoos to chocolate-shaped rats, we take a look at how fans have been gearing up for this Stanley Cup Final.
It’s only been a week since the Florida Panthers won their second consecutive Eastern Conference Championship, but for the fans, it has seemed like an eternity.
The break before their beloved team takes on the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday night in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final at Sunrise’s Amerant Bank Arena has been filled with ups and downs — excitement, anxiety, anticipation, appreciation, speculation and preparation. (And with no hockey to watch, throw some boredom into the mix.)
First, they waited to learn their next rival, and when the Oilers emerged triumphant, the stage was set and many began doing what fans do: getting tickets, buying more merch, taking to social media to talk the (trash) talk, and … dyeing their dog’s fur in team colors?
Yes, there are some Panthers aficionados out there who take their love of the game to another level. From team tattoos to chocolate-shaped rats, let’s take a look at how fans have been gearing up for this Stanley Cup Final.
West Palm Beach resident Ron Monserrate can feel it in his bones — that this is the Panthers’ year. So he headed to Altered State Tattoo in Boynton Beach to commemorate this season with a permanent symbol on his leg.
Well, on the back of his left calf, to be exact.
“I feel this is our year and thought the time was right to get it done,” said Monserrate, a pitmaster who offers catering through Ron’s Double Barrel BBQ. “Dean at Altered State Tattoo did an amazing job and I am so happy.
“The actual artwork was posted on a Panthers fan site by Joe Pfab,” he added. “When I saw it, I said I wanted to get it tattooed.”
The design incorporates new and old jersey designs with a large leaping panther.
Monserrate moved to Florida in 1990 and watched the Tampa Bay Lightning when they started in 1992. But when the Panthers joined the NHL in 1993, he “dubbed them my team,” he said.
“I had season tickets a few years before COVID and stopped after,” Monserrate said. “I go when I can at this point but watch every game.”
Will he celebrate a Panthers’ Stanley Cup win with more ink? “Yes, I will get the cup tattooed after we win!” he said.
Michele Singer, owner of Tasteful Thoughts in Cooper City, knows she has a clear winner on her hands.
Her shop at 8692 Griffin Road serves up rat-shaped chocolates, and she estimates she’s sold about 350 of the sweet critters so far this playoff season.
“They love the rats!” Singer said about fans’ reactions. “Rats are such an interesting part of the Panthers’ history, that it’s a lot of fun to be a part of it in some way.”
The team’s relationship with rats began during the historic 1995-96 season when, long story short, one of the rascally rodents infiltrated the team’s dressing room inside Miami Arena before the season opener. Player Scott Mellanby gave it a slap shot, ending the poor critter’s life while unknowingly inspiring what would become a new fan ritual. (Read the whole history of the incident here.)
The rats have endured ever since, even inspiring Stanley C. Panther’s mascot sidekick, Viktor E. Rat, a decade ago.
Her relishable rodents come in milk, dark or white chocolate and cost $2.95 each at the store and at tastefulthoughts.com. (The website promises that the confection “tastes better if you eat it than throw it.”)
But the shop also offers pretzels, Oreos, marshmallows, rice crispy treats and cake pops with Panthers’ colors.
“We also have trays and boxes with our chocolate, mixed in with the decorated chocolates … and, of course, a rat comes with each one of the trays,” said Singer, who has been making a variety of Panthers-themed chocolates for years. “We have a chocolate hockey player, hockey stick, puck and Panthers-colored popcorn.”
Plantation residents Matthew and Shelly Tremellen have turned their 1-year-old Pomeranian into the Panthers’ No. 1 canine fan.
It began innocently enough, with Shelly and niece Amber Ford putting a jersey on Draco during the playoffs. But then, Matthew said, they saw a reel of a groomer who dyes dogs.
“They said if we get to the Stanley Cup (Final), we are going to dye Draco,” he said.
Never fear: He said they used a safe dye for dogs, called OPAWZ Permanent Dye, to color his fur in the team’s distinctive colors — half red, half blue.
“He is the mascot of our pool watch party!” Matthew said.
Fort Lauderdale resident Hal Wasserman started the Official Florida Panthers Fans Group on Facebook more than a decade ago after noticing other NHL teams had similar ones for their devotees to connect.
“It actually only had a few hundred members up to about four years ago. Then as the Panthers got better, my group got bigger and bigger,” said Wasserman, who owns Two Guys Discount Pawn in Oakland Park.
These days, it has about 22,400 members, more than enough fans to fill every seat in Amerant Bank Arena. He estimates that number could reach 30,000 by the time the series is over — “and my guess, 40,000 if the Panthers win (the Cup).”
A recent WalletHub report named Sunrise as the 10th best city for hockey fans (Boston came in at No. 1), taking into account performance of the professional hockey team, season ticket prices and arena capacity. Wasserman’s Facebook group, which is open to all fans (new, old or back on the bandwagon), always has something to say about these topics and about a whole lot more when it comes to their favorite team.
But they must follow a few rules: No buying or selling tickets, parking or anything else, and no hate speech or politics allowed.
Wasserman manages the group with help from his son, Mason, and moderators Ed Zito and John Matthews. One of their main duties is dealing with fans from opposing teams joining the group to troll Panthers’ fans.
Edmonton Oilers’ devotees have already begun their mission, he said. “But they’re from Canada, so they’re pretty nice as opposed to Rangers’ and Bruins’ fans who (have) a little more of an edge.”
For now, fans are having fun sharing memes about their favorite players, talking stats, reminiscing, making game plans and hyping each other up. Some are even thinking about making the more than 2,500-mile trek northwest to Edmonton, which makes it the longest travel distance in Stanley Cup Final history.
For Game 1, Wasserman is planning to wear his customized, red No. 14 Panthers jersey with “Admin” on the back.
“Nothing I would like more than to have my group photo be of the Panthers holding the Stanley Cup,” he said.
For fan James Parry, seeing his kids gravitate toward this year’s Panthers team feels “eerily similar” to when he and his twin brother attended games as 10-year-olds in 1996 — during the team’s first Stanley Cup Final run.
“The fact that the Year of the Rat still lives on is amazing!” Parry said. “That energy from 1996 seems to be back for hockey in Florida.”
Parry and his brother, Steven, own The Vintage Clubhouse in Oakland Park, which — among other sports memorabilia — has racks full of items from back then.
“Fans have been flying to the store to get some of that nostalgic 1996-era Florida Panthers gear,” Parry said. “We offer original, old-school jerseys, shirts, jackets, sweaters, pins.”
But they’re also celebrating the Panthers’ present players with a nod to left-winger and alternate captain Matthew Tkachuk, nicknamed “Chucky” by fans, who’s known for constantly chewing on his mouthguard.
The Parry brothers came up with the idea last year for a mash-up T-shirt featuring Chucky — yes, the doll from 1988 horror movie “Child’s Play” — wearing a hockey helmet with Tkachuk’s No. 19 on the front. (They’re available for $45 at the store, 1100 E. Oakland Park Blvd., Suite 102, and at thevintageclubhouse.com.)
“The response to the Tkachuky shirts has been amazing!” Parry said. ”We wanted a shirt that focused on the gritty, tough style of Matthew Tkachuk’s game. Of course, the Chucky nickname was perfect, but we needed the iconic hanging mouthpiece to make the shirt come together.”
Are there plans for another T-shirt if the Panthers win the title? “We do have another shirt idea, but (it) only will be released when we raise the cup for the first time!” he said.
Brendan Tobin, host of the “Tobin & Leroy” show on AM 560 Sports WQAM, is no stranger to writing parody songs about South Florida sports teams.
But the inspiration for his latest tune came easy: Florida Panthers’ goalie Sergei Bobrovsky.
The unstoppable netminder nicknamed “Bob” by fans is Tobin’s favorite player. He’s also the only player to get his own chant from fans in the stands. “Bob-by! Bob-by! Bob-by!” reverberates throughout the arena after every jaw-dropping, show-stopping save he makes.
“After all our one-on-one interviews, I always respected his game,” Tobin said of Bobrovsky. “He’s such a great dude and incredible hard worker.”
Tobin sat down to write lyrics for “The Bob Song” in one day, then recorded the song and video the next day.
“Shaboozey’s ‘A Bar Song’ is really popular right now,” said the Lake Worth Beach resident, about the style he chose for the parody. “I like it a lot.”
“Every puck gettin’ stopped by Bobrovsky,” he sings in the chorus.
What is his prediction for the Stanley Cup Final?
“Cats in 5,” he said.
