Connor McDavid’s wife seemingly shades Florida Panthers: ‘Why is Alberta rat-free?’

Article content We apologize, but this video has failed to load. Article content Article content As for how the club and its fan base embraced the rat as one of its symbols, you have to go back to the 1995 season when Panthers’ forward Scott Mellanby used a slapshot to kill a rat found in the club’s dressing room before a game. He went on to score two goals with the same stick that night, leading goalie John Vanbiesbrouck to later joke that his teammate had scored a “rat trick” — a play on the hockey term for hat trick, when a player nets three goals in a game. Article content The next time Mellanby scored on home ice, someone tossed a fake rat on the ice, and it soon became a practice that became entrenched in the team’s run to the Stanley Cup Final in the spring of 1996, the year of the rat, on the Chinese zodiac. The NHL eventually instituted a rule against it, but some fans continue to do it after victories. According to the league, some fans are known to stock up on rubber or plastic rats at Halloween or order them in bulk online.
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