Florida Man hops over boards, joins 11 other Florida men on the ice during a National Hockey League game.
After the exhausted Panthers committed three consecutive icing infractions, the five skaters were eager to make a change during Sunday’s 5-2 home loss to the Boston Bruins.
But as the fresh legs came to the rescue, the tired legs hadn’t quite reached the bench, resulting in one of the most blatant too-many-men-on-the-ice bench minors you’ll ever see. Jonathan Huberdeau served the two minutes in the second period, but it could’ve been anyone in a red sweater, really.
Say it in the Comic Book Guy’s voice: Worst. Line. Change. Ever.
NESN’s Nick Goss did us the favour of tallying the players up, as the Panthers cranked things up to 11. And, no, this is not soccer or a Spinal Tap concert.
To be precise, the Panthers actually had 12 on the ice, if you count goaltender Roberto Luongo.
Luongo, of course, is not Tim Thomas. But don’t tell the Panthers’ marketing staff that.
Despite Thomas being traded away to the Dallas Stars at Wednesday’s NHL trade deadline, Florida went ahead with the departed goaltender’s bobblehead day, which would’ve coincided with a match-up against Thomas’s old club, the Bruins.
So what if Luongo is the man in Sunrise now?
The first 7,500 fans were given a dog’s breakfast of a goodies as they entered the arena — a Thomas bobblehead and a poster featuring Luongo — setting a confusing tone for an out-of-sorts team.
The bobbleheaded bobblehead promotion did not go unnoticed by Thomas’s new team, the Stars.
Don’t ever change, Florida. Don’t ever change….
@FlaPanthers could you send a bobblehead or two our way? Feel free to customize it if you have a green marker around.
— Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) March 9, 2014
@DallasStars We could, but you should probably find someone more qualified to back up Timmy for now (just to be safe).
— Florida Panthers (@FlaPanthers) March 9, 2014
@FlaPanthers we did. He beat you guys in September, remember? http://t.co/BPGPJcMEjH
— Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) March 9, 2014