About
What is rattrick.com?
Rattrick.com was started with the intention of giving Dan, Ryan, Scott and Sean a
place to store updates during our two week road trip beginning May 7, 2004. It quickly
turned into a place for us and all of our friends to store all the interesting (to
say the least) things that we capture through videos and pictures.
Click on pictures
to enlarge
The story of the rat
If you are friends with us, you know that we are all huge Florida Panther fans. Here
is a little background information on the term ‘rattrick’:
In
the National Hockey League (NHL), when one player scores 3 goals, it is known as a
hat trick. In 1996, the Florida Panthers were in their third year. Having already
set an NHL record (which still stands) for points by an expansion team with 83 points,
they climbed up to 92 points and a 4th place finish in the Eastern Conference just
three years after inauguration.
The 1995-1996 season become known as “The Year of the Rat”. Ironically enough, 1995
was also the Year of the Rat on the Chinese calendar. On October 8, 1995 before a
game in the old Miami Arena, Scott Mellanby killed a rat with his stick in the locker
room. He went on to score two goals in a 4-3 win and goalie John Vanbiesbrouck touted
Mellanby's performance 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 October
14, 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. During the playoffs, rat shortages struck
the South Florida area and fans were importing rats from family across the country.
There were even instances where computer mice thrown as a substitute.
During
that season, the Rat Patrol was born. The Rat Patrol was responsible for the collection
of the rats after they were thrown. This team of fans would charge the ice with buckets
and brooms to clear the ice of the rats. One of the best memories was the opposing
goalies ducking under the nets to escape the barrage of rats being thrown from the
rafters.
This year, the Panthers would make a big impression in their first year of the playoffs.
They would proceed to defeat the Boston Bruins, Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh
Penguins on their way to the Stanley Cup finals against the Colorado Avalanche. Patrick
Roy and the Avalanche would prove to be too much for the Panthers who were eventually
swept from the finals. Game four of that series went into triple overtime when Avalanche
defenseman Uwe Krupp eventually scored the game winner in the sixth 20 minute period
of the game. The final score in that game was 1-0.
At that time, the Florida Panthers had some of the best fans in the league. After
their first season, then captain Brian Skrudland said "We didn't know what to expect
when we came down to Florida, and we certainly didn't expect to have the best fans
in the National Hockey League." Unfortunately, the NHL took the life out of the fans
by taking away the rat. The league threatened to give the team a delay of game every
time rats were thrown onto the ice. The year of the rat was dead, but the legacy of
the rat will be here forever.
Written by Scott Scowden
All pictures credited to Al Messerchmidt and the Florida Panthers.
Some of the specifics from this article were borrowed from
Darysys.com and
FloridaPanthers.com.
Road Trip Crew Bios
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Name: Sean Atteberry
Job: Lifeguard/Florida State Universtiy Student
Road Trips: 2003, 2004, 2007
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Name: Dan Duecker
Job: Pool Man
Road Trips: 2003, 2004, 2007
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Name: Ryan Kunin
Job: Bartender/Student
Road Trips: 2004, 2007
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Name: Scott Scowden
Job: Software Developer
Road Trips: 2003, 2004, 2007
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