American Hockey League (1999-2001)
Tombstone
Born: December 17, 1998 – AHL expansion franchise1Koerner, Dave. “Done deal (finally): Louisville gets AHL franchise”. The Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY). December 18, 1998
Suspended Operations: Spring 2001
First Game: October 1, 1999 (W 6-4 vs. Kentucky Thoroughblades)
Final Game: April 8, 2001 (L 5-2 vs. Kentucky Thoroughblades)
Calder Cup Championships: None
Arena
Freedom Hall (17,200)21999-00 Louisville Panthers Program
Opened: 1956
Marketing
Team Colors: Red, Navy Blue & Gold31999-00 Louisville Panthers Program
Ownership & Affiliation
Owners: Dr. Mostafa Afr and Tamer Afr
NHL Affiliation: Florida Panthers
Attendance
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Sources: HockeyDB.com; 2001-02 & 2003-04 AHL Guide & Record Books
Background
The Louisville Panthers were a short-lived farm club of the NHL’s Florida Panthers in the American Hockey League. When the Panthers formed in 1998 they displaced the Louisville RiverFrogs (1995-1998) of the lower-level East Coast Hockey League. The RiverFrogs played in smaller Broadbent Arena and average around 4,000 fans per game. The Panthers upgraded to the enormous NHL-sized Freedom Hall, but failed to build substantially on the ‘Frogs audience.
Owners Dr. Mostafa Afr and his son Tamer had a small minor league empire at the time. Afr Enterprises’ holdings included the Elmira Jackals and Port Huron Border Cats of the United Hockey League and the Louisville Fire of Arena Football 2.
On The Ice
Louisville had a decent enough first season in the AHL in 1999-00. The Panthers finished 42-30-7-1 and qualified for the Calder Cup playoffs. They lost to their in-state rivals, the Kentucky Thoroughblades, in the first round.
The Panthers top players to go on to NHL success were defenseman Dan Boyle and goaltender Roberto Luongo. Boyle spent most of the 1999-00 season in Louisville and returned for a handful of games in 2000-01. Boyle ultimately played 17 seasons in the NHL.
Luongo, on the other hand, made just three appearances for Louisville during the 2000-01 season. He went on to play two stints in Florida and became the Vancouver Canucks’ all-time wins leader. He backstopped the Canucks 2011 Stanley Cup run, advancing to Game 7 of the Finals before Vancouver fell to the Boston Bruins.
Right wing Paul Brosseau was Louisville’s all-time leader in Goals (48), Assists (63) and Points (111).
Extinction
The Panthers’ brutal second season in the winter of 2000-01 sealed the team’s fate in Louisville. Heayy competition for dates at Freedom Hall forced the Panthers to play 23 of their first 26 games on the road. The club posted the worst record in the 20-team AHL (21 wins, 51 losses, 5 ties, 3 overtime losses). Attendance dropped 10% from the Panthers’ debut season to fewer than 5,000 fans per night.
The Louisville Panthers suspended operations in the spring of 2001 after just two seasons of play.
Panthers Video
1999 Panthers television commercial (0:30)
Links
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One Response
Season Ticket Holder for both seasons. It was a distinct difference between first and second seasons. First season was a competitive team, live crowds with fun atmospheres. I remember the second season was a quarter over before the team really began playing some home games. Team wasn’t competitive the second season and seemed like the ownership were one foot out the door halfway through the season. There was a bad situation between UofL and the Panthers over dates at Freedom Hall that UofL won. There were a few articles about moving the team to the Louisville Gardens downtown because of the scarce dates they could use at Freedom Hall. Sadly, the Gardens was in shambles and unusable and the control UofL had over Freedom Hall helped the owners with the decision to ditch the effort. UofL has vacated Freedom Hall now, but the Ice rink has been removed long ago and I don’t see any push for another minor league hockey team here although I think it would work now on an ECHL level.