Florida Panthers
| Florida Panthers | |
|---|---|
 2016–17 Florida Panthers season
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| Conference | Eastern |
| Division | Atlantic |
| Founded | 1993 |
| History |
Florida Panthers 1993–present |
| Home arena | BB&T Center |
| City | Sunrise, Florida |
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| Colors |
Red, Blue, Flat Gold, White |
| Media |
FS Florida WQAM Sports Radio (560 AM) |
| Owner(s) | Sunrise Sports and Entertainment (Vincent Viola, chairman) |
| General manager | Tom Rowe |
| Head coach | Tom Rowe (interim) |
| Captain | Derek MacKenzie |
| Minor league affiliates | Springfield Thunderbirds (AHL) |
| Stanley Cups | 0 |
| Conference championships | 1 (1995–96) |
| Presidents' Trophy | 0 |
| Division championships | 2 (2011–12, 2015–16) |
| Official website | www |
Red, Blue, Flat Gold, White
The Florida Panthers are a professional ice hockey team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). It was founded in 1993 as an expansion team. They play home games at the BB&T Center in Sunrise, Florida; the Panthers are the southernmost team in the NHL. The team has made one appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals, in 1996; they lost to the Colorado Avalanche in four games.
The team advanced to the Stanley Cup playoffs for the second time in 12 years in 2012, but were eliminated in seven games in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals by the New Jersey Devils, who eventually won the Eastern Conference championship that season.
Blockbuster Video magnate Wayne Huizenga was awarded an NHL franchise for Miami on December 10, 1992, the same day The Walt Disney Company earned the rights to start a team in Anaheim. At the time, Huizenga owned both the newly founded Florida Marlins of Major League Baseball and a share of the National Football League's Miami Dolphins. The entry fee was $50 million, but despite fellow Florida team Tampa Bay Lightning starting play the year before, the NHL did not consider it to be a case of territory infringement. Huizenga announced the team would play at the Miami Arena, sharing the building with the National Basketball Association's Miami Heat, until a new arena was built. Offices for the team were only established on June 1993, while Vice President of Business Operations Dean Jordan conceded that "none of the business people, myself included, knew anything about hockey."
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Wikipedia