Columnists
Rats
James Hurst and Kerry Fraser.
Kerry Fraser put quite a few miles on his blades on National Hockey League rinks. He began his career as a referee in 1973 and broke into the NHL in 1980. He blew the whistle until 2010. At that time, he had adjudicated more regular season games, and more playoff games than any other official in the game, at the NHL level.
He does admit that he was not the most popular official in history, and he took a lot of abuse for his impeccable hair. No matter. He also worked several international games, including the Olympics.
When I spotted him hovering above the ice at the BB&T Centre in Sunrise, Florida, I knew I was in luck.
The Panthers had recently suffered nearly disastrous results from a promotion at their games. The first 10,000 fans entering the arena were given a rubber rat. Not just ordinary, run-of-the-mill rats. Special rats. The words, “year of the rat” were written on the rat’s side, as was the date: 1995-96. For twenty years, the team has capitalized on the poor rodent.
Back in their old barn in Miami, Scott Mellanby had fired a dazed rat against the wall with a decent slapshot before a game. He also potted two goals that evening. As a consequence, Panthers’ goalie John Vanbiesbrouck stated the Mellanby had scored a “rat trick.” That was the only year the Cats played in a Stanley Cup final.
Since that time, fans have showered the ice surface with rats after victories. Recent events regarding the long-tailed creature have not gone so well for the Panthers.
On the rat promotion night, fans tossed their rodents onto the ice after their first goal. They were warned over the public address system not to throw things on the ice. More rats, naturally. Then they were assessed a two-minute delay of game penalty.
Then another goal and more rats! And another two-minute penalty. The veins were quite prevalent on Coach Gerard Gallant’s neck. He was more unhappy with the fans than with the call. “We’ve got to be smarter than that,” he told the press after the game.
Fraser recalled a similar occurrence one night in St. Louis. Fans were given koozies, those silly rubber things you place over cans to keep them cool. When the fans objected to some of Fraser’s calls, they showered the ice. “They filled a dozen wheelbarrows! They used them again at another promotional night.” Look for Fraser on his popular TSN show, C’mon, Ref!
I chatted with other hockey guys about stuff being tossed on the ice. Naturally, the octopus in Detroit comes to mind. For those of us with slightly receding hairlines, we remember programs covering ice surfaces. Eddie Johnston, the veteran NHL netminder laughed when I told him I remembered toe rubbers littering the ice at the old Memorial in Belleville.
Toe rubbers, you ask? Check with your grandfather.
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