On my way to Canada to check out some snow and possibly an Oshawa Generals game.
Why would I be interested in the Generals now that John Tavares is gone?
Because Pete DeBoer -- second-year coach of the Panthers -- is now officially a part owner of the Ontario Hockey League franchise.
This was a deal that was supposed to be done a long time ago but was messed up because of legal wrangling. But on Sunday, the Generals -- who also brought you one Nathan Horton among many, many others -- was formally introduced with former NHLer Adam Graves as one of the team's new owners.
Will have more from Pete on this later on.
-- What does this mean for the Panthers? Word is the team is going to hold at least part of training camp north of the border. I had heard holding part of it in Kitchener, where Pete coached the Rangers of the OHL.
Even money is now on camp being held in Oshawa -- a good sized town about 40 miles away from Toronto on the shores of Lake Wasapamanni. Or Lake Ontario. One of the big ones.
-- Other famous Oshawa alumni include Bobby Orr and Eric Lindros.
-- For those wondering, Panthers have won three straight in Toronto and two straight in Ottawa. Florida was 0-1-1 in Montreal last season, a year after winning both at Bell Center in JM's final year on the Panthers bench.
Florida plays at Toronto tomorrow night before shuffling on to Montreal and Ottawa.
-- A good showing by Panthers prospect Jacob Markstrom in net at the World Juniors and he still has a chance to medal. The Swedish goalie got beat by Team USA last night in the semifinals, but he can still help his team beat the Swiss Tuesday in the Bronze game.
-- And kudos to those of you who tossed the rats onto the ice when Radek Dvorak scored his third goal of the night last night. Not only was Radek part of that, but you really couldn't get in trouble for throwing them after a hat trick. So good for you.
I love the rats and miss them. It's good to see Panther fans who still care and are trying to bring that nostalgic era back.
Posted by: Big Slap Shot Bob | January 04, 2010 at 12:00 PM
What a great game by Dvorak last night. Nice to see someone who works hard every night get a rat trick.
Now that the fins are done, let's support the Panthers. Maybe the owners will finally do something and find the missing pieces for a playoff push..
Posted by: FLA Kittens | January 04, 2010 at 12:21 PM
Until this team can win 4 in a row we will go nowhere towards the playoffs!
Posted by: litespeedvb1 | January 04, 2010 at 07:17 PM
GO GENS WERE GOING TO FRIDAYS GAME
Posted by: A Facebook User | January 06, 2010 at 04:43 PM