Things have changed a bit in the 27 years between Florida's two Stanley Cup Final appearances
Quite a few years passed between Stanley Cup Final appearances for the Florida Panthers.
Twenty-seven years, to be exact.
It's certainly within the realm of reality to consider the current Panthers team in a good position to keep the good times rolling and remain among the Cup contending teams in the Eastern Conference.
They have an extremely strong and talented young core that is signed for the foreseeable future, and a front office staff that has proved to be well equipped to build and maintain a strong, competitive roster.
Looking back at the time between Florida's two Final appearances, it's easy to point to the many differences in the world between then and now.
For fun, let's take a look back at what was happening in the world when the Panthers could last call themselves Eastern Conference Champions.
As a bonus, there are some quotes at the bottom from a few members of the team regarding what they remember from the 90s.
Number one song: Bone Thugs-N-Harmony – Crossroads
Number one movie: Mission Impossible
Top rated TV shows: ER, Seinfeld, Suddenly Susan, Friends, The Naked Truth
Michael Jordan had retired from professional baseball and was back playing basketball, much to the chagrin of the Miami Heat.
Top selling car: Ford Taurus (fifth consecutive year. Replaced by Camry in 1997).
Blockbuster video stores became simply Blockbuster following the company merging into the Blockbuster Entertainment Corporation. Movie rentals cost $2.99 for a new release or $1.99 for older movies for one night, with a $0.99 charge for each additional night.
The NHL was very strict about players in the goal crease and not very strict about the size of a goalie’s equipment.
Saturday Night Live cast during Season 21, which coincided with the 95-96 hockey season: Jim Breuer, Will Ferrell, Darrel Hammond, Chris Kattan, David Koechner, Norm Macdonald, Mark McKinney, Tim Meadows, Cheri Oteri, Colin Quinn, Molly Shannon, David Spade, Nancy Walls and Fred Wolf.
Bestselling books in May and June of 1996: How Stella Got Her Groove Back by Terry McMillan and The Runaway Jury by John Grisham.
AOL cost $9.95 a month for five hours and $2.95 for each additional hour. In December of 1996, AOL switched to an unlimited plan for $19.95 a month.
The average cost per gallon for gas in the US during the summer of 1996 was $1.26.
Minimum wage in Florida was increased from $4.25 an hour to $4.75 on Oct. 1, 1996.
Bill Clinton was President of the United States
Lawton Chiles was the Governor of Florida
Current Panthers players who hadn't been born yet: Matthew Tkachuk, Givani Smith, Colin White, Josh Mahura, Eetu Luostarinen, Anton Lundell, Grigori Denisenko, Aleksi Heponiemi (Sam Bennett and Gus Forsling were both born in June of '96).
Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice turned 29 years old in January of '96 and was in his first season as an NHL head coach.
"Well, I was 28 years old in 1995 and I got an assistant coaching job in Hartford," said Maurice. "I got married and went on a honeymoon, 10 days later I moved to Hartford. My wife stayed back working because at that time, we need the two jobs. I don’t know, six games into the season (it was actually 12 after a 5-6-1 start) they changed Paul Holmgren and I became the head coach, so it was a tumultuous time. Those are my memories."
Marc Staal, who was born in 1987, remembers the Panthers reaching the Stanley Cup Final in 1996: "I remember being a kid and seeing the rats being thrown on the ice when the Panthers were going on their run and wondering what that was. Discman's were a big thing. I remember I got a Discman with no shock…that was a big deal, otherwise playing Super Nintendo and PlayStation."
Eric Staal, who was born in 1984, also recalls watching the rat-throwing Panthers run in 1996: "I remember John Vanbiesbrouck and I remember the rats. When you're young and you're watching, you can feel that atmosphere and the energy of a Stanley Cup Final playoff run, and you know those are kind of the two things to stick out.
"In '96 I would've been 12. Wayne Gretzky and Joe Sakic were my two favorite players. It was a different time as far as how it is now for my kids, growing up with video games and online and playing with their friends and all that kind of stuff. We got to play video games, but you only had your brothers or something that was over to the house to play, and we did a lot of that too with NHL games and stuff like that."
Ryan Lomberg, who was born in 1994, on what he remembers from the deacde: "The 90s would be Nintendo 64 for me. I remember going to my buddy’s house and playing Mario Kart and the one with all the Mario characters fighting (Super Smash Bros.)
"Back then, I just remember we loved playing hockey. I’d go to the cottage all the time. (The Lomberg family cottage is located in Parry Sound, ON, just north of the Moskoka Mountains) It was actually where Bobby Orr was born. They have the Bobby Orr Hall of Fame up there. I remember as a kid driving up and seeing the big Bobby Orr sign on the highway, which was pretty cool. And there was a Don Cherry’s (Sports Grill) in town too. I remember going to watch the (1998 FIFA) World Cup final actually, way back, with a couple buddies and my parents. We went to Don Cherry’s and it’s a small town, right? But the whole town got off that day, so it was pretty cool.”