Montour's passion for lacrosse led him to doing something he probably shouldn't have after being drafted by the Anaheim Ducks

The Florida Panthers are still very much alive in their quest to win the franchise’s first Stanley Cup.

Florida has reached the Eastern Conference Finals for the second straight season, getting ready for Game 1 against the New York Rangers coming up on Wednesday night.

If the Panthers are still going strong, so too can THN Florida…with our Five Favorites series.

In case you may have forgotten, or just need a quick refresher, allow me to explain what our Five Favorites series is all about:

With the idea in mind of getting to know the Florida Panthers a little more off the ice, we’re going around the locker room and asking different Panthers players a list of questions about their favorite things.

So far this season, we’ve sat down with Aaron Ekblad, Evan Rodrigues, Nick Cousins, Anton Lundell, Anthony Stolarz, Kyke Okposo, and Niko Mikkola to ask about some of their favorite things.

This time, THN Florida caught up with Panthers defenseman Brandon Montour after a recent practice at the brand new Baptist Health IcePlex in Fort Lauderdale.

Here is what we learned about Monty:

Favorite pre-NHL memory: Probably when I was in the USHL, we won the Anderson Cup (as regular season champions) and played Indiana in the Clark Cup Championship. We ended up losing at home, but probably that.

Favorite hockey movie: Slapshot, or maybe Youngblood. Yeah, Youngblood probably. It’s an older movie that we watched when we were kids. There weren’t many hockey movies and those are just classics. Even the old Don Cherry ones, did you know about those? (THN: Nope). So every Christmas there would be a new Don Cherry video that popped out and it would literally be highlights of the year prior, or the playoffs, and stuff like that. If you find it on VHS, I don’t even know if they’re on DVD. They’re worth checking out.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8inMNlHGS9w[/embed]

Favorite away rink to play at: Chicago. Yeah, I like Chicago. I think just the atmosphere, the anthem, and it's a really loud building, no matter if they're struggling or really good. They have a really passionate fan base and it's pretty cool always playing there.

Favorite non-hockey hobby: Lacrosse. I've been playing my whole life. I was drafted by Anaheim and I was still playing lacrosse. I played that summer, I probably shouldn’t have, but lacrosse back home is huge. We always had a really good lacrosse team, and it was a passion of mine from day one. Hockey and lacrosse. Hockey in the winter and lacrosse in the summer. Really, I didn’t play many other sports, just the two of them.

Favorite player growing up: My favorite team was the Red Wings so you could say a number of players; Steve Yzerman, Henrik Zetterberg, Nick Lindstrom, Pavel Datsyuk. The one guy that I liked was Stevie-Y, but when I started playing, Zetterberg was my guy.

Thanks to Brandon Montour for taking a few minutes for a fun chat and being so candid with his answers. 

Keep an eye out for the next installment in THN Florida's Five Favorites series. The Panthers aren't done and neither are we!  

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