Is Miami a hockey town? Panthers fans from Dade, Broward respond
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Florida Panthers fans during a game last season. Photo: Brennan Asplen/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
When the Florida Panthers won their first-ever Stanley Cup last year, a fan at The Brightside bar in Miami declared on live TV: "We are a hockey town!"
- Never mind that the Panthers play about an hour away in Broward County, where the team has stronger ties to the community.
Why it matters: Hockey fandom has surged in South Florida as the Panthers have emerged as the region's most successful franchise of the past decade.
- Florida can advance to its third straight Stanley Cup Final with a win tonight in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference final against the Carolina Hurricanes.
Catch up quick: Miami sports fans who have thrown their support behind the Panthers have history on their side.
- When the Panthers entered the NHL in 1993, they played five seasons at the former Miami Arena before moving to Sunrise in western Broward.
Yes, but: Broward fans have recency on their side. The team's championship parade was along Fort Lauderdale Beach, not South Beach.
- Panthers players regularly bump into fans at local Broward restaurants and they hold open practices at the recently renovated Iceplex at the FTL War Memorial.
- Unlike the Heat, Dolphins and Marlins, the name "Miami" doesn't appear anywhere on the Panthers jerseys.
What they're saying: Brandan Wright, a hockey fan from Miami Gardens, responded to an Axios callout in a Panthers Facebook group by explaining how Miami has historically been a football town and, more recently, a basketball town.
- But hockey, he wrote, has become more popular in the last few years.
- "The Miami fanbase is just as big as the Broward fan base," he continued, adding that the Panthers represent the tri-county area.
The other side: Brittany Monger, a Margate resident, wrote in the group that she takes "immense pride in my Florida Panthers being a Broward team."
- "Being born and raised in Broward, I fell in love with all south Florida teams, but [the] Panthers feel like MY team. Any time someone says Panthers are in Miami, I always correct them that they are in Sunrise, they aren't Miami's team."
Outside a watch party at the Iceplex last Thursday night, Panthers fan Stephen Dorsey told Axios that he's happy the team has attracted new fans with its recent success.
- "The thing with the state of Florida is they really only cheer for a winner. I get it, it's expensive down here. People work hard for their money."
- Dorsey, who grew up in Miami but lives in Coral Springs, said the Panthers are probably more of a Broward team, but anyone in South Florida can claim them.
- "It's nice to see that it's finally gaining traction and people can enjoy a product that is worth supporting."
The bottom line: Most fans we interviewed or who responded to our callout agreed that the Panthers represent South Florida and the entire state — except for Tampa.
- "The name says it all! FLORIDA," fan group member Douglas Schaffer wrote on Facebook.