Louisville Panthers
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 and disbanded after only two seasons. Future NHL stars Dan Boyle and Roberto Luongo played with the Panthers before establishing themselves in the senior circuit.