An Anthem For Respecting The Florida Panthers

Since the beginning of the season, NHL pundits never gave the Florida Panthers a chance. The Panthers were called misfits. They were called a team loaded with a bunch of journeymen that would have chemistry problems. We kept hearing that we had a washed up goaltender, a player who had a sickness that maybe he hadn’t recovered from, and a rookie NHL coach who was going to have his hands full just figuring out who would play with who.

After the Panthers began the season with one of the hottest line combinations in the league (Versteeg, Weiss and Fleischmann), the pundits continued to say that Florida was playing over their head. They wouldn’t be able to keep up the pace. The amount of disrespect was taller than Mount Everest. While the Panthers did hit a mid season slump (what team doesn’t), they’ve rebounded and have maintained their season long playoff position in the Eastern Conference. In addition, with their fourth consecutive win on Saturday night, the Panthers are also in first place in the Southeast division over the Washington Capitals.

It’s time NHL that you take notice. The Florida Panthers are good. They are playing with the kind of effort that teams with chemistry play with. To have responded to the systems of a first year coach, and having survived over 300 plus man games lost to injury and find themselves where they are now is a testament that must prove all of you wrong.

That so called washed up goaltender? He’s not washed up by any stretch of your imagination. In fact he’s won 22 games, and is 4-0-1 in his last five. That player with the illness last season that was almost career ending? He leads the team in scoring with 51 points and has played EVERY game this season. Oh, and let’s not forget about a journeyman defenceman who has nine of his 15 goals scored on the power play. And those are just a few of the players people like Crag Button were discouonting. I could go on and on, but rather you look at the stats yourself here.

There’s no better way for me to say this, than to the words of “How You Like Me Now” by the Heavy.

I still say that this needs to be our goal song!

Now there was a time

When you loved us so

I could have been wrong

But now you needed to know

See, we’ve been a bad, bad, bad,bad team

And we just stunk, yes we did

But you need to find a new love for us now

And we can’t wait till you see

We can’t wait

So how you like me now

How you like me now

Remember the time

When teams just ate us up

You thought we weren’t tryin’

And you just gave up

But Dale came to our rescue

And baby, now you need to believe in me

If we keep, keep, winning games

You have to start cheering for me

How you like me now

Does our winning make you love me baby

How you like me now

I know I should probably stick to my day job instead of songwriting, but after Saturday night’s thrilling shootout win, I just couldn’t resist.

Here’s the song performed by the Heavy on Late Night with David Letterman. I honestly can’t stop wanting to hear it after a goal, and after winning a home game.

I hope you enjoyed this. I promise to never do something like this again. Unless of course the disrespect continues.

Thanks for reading. We welcome your comments and opinions.

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