One Hurricanes player was once a ‘die-hard’ Panthers fan. Now, he wants to beat them
As an NHL veteran, defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere has played the Florida Panthers many times through the years.
But never like this time.
The Carolina Hurricanes and Panthers both are eight wins away from claiming the Stanley Cup. They’ll face each other in the Eastern Conference final of the playoffs to see which team moves on to play for the Cup.
“It’s definitely a cool experience,” Gostisbehere said Saturday after a Hurricanes practice at PNC Arena. “You’re playing your childhood team that you loved watching play and pretty much got you into hockey. It’s definitely coming full circle.”
The son of a professional jai alai player, Gostisbehere went to many Panthers games growing up in Pembroke Pines, Florida, south of Fort Lauderdale. His maternal grandfather, Denis Brodeur, a Montreal native, played travel hockey for many years and was the first to put his grandson on skates at age 3.
Brodeur had season tickets for the Panthers and the two would go to games together so that Shayne could cheer for his favorite player, Pavel Bure.
“I was a die-hard Panthers fan my whole life,” Gostisbehere said. “And Bure, I loved him.”
The Panthers reached the Stanley Cup final in 1996, three years after Gostisbehere was born, only to be swept by the Colorado Avalanche. Bure, the speedy forward known as “The Russian Rocket,” played for the Panthers in the late 1990s and early 2000s, scoring 58 goals in 1999-2000 and 59 a year later.
By then, Gostisbhere had the hockey itch. His sister, three years older, was a figure skater and he’d often tag along to her practices.
“They’d give me a stick and said, ‘Try not to get in trouble around the rink,’” Gostisbehere said, laughing.
Gostisbehere rarely put a hockey stick down after that. He played on junior teams affiliated with the Panthers. He played on a travel team. He went to boarding school in Connecticut and played. Mostly, he played a lot.
But he was not drafted by an NHL team in 2011. Gostisbehere decided on college hockey, going to Union College in Schenectady, New York, where he won an NCAA championship in 2014 with the Dutchmen -- and acquired a nickname that would stick.
Gostisbehere said a Union teammate, Josh Jooris, first called him “Ghost.”
“It was good. It fit,” he said.
So “Ghost” it was, and still is. Drafted in the third round by the Philadelphia Flyers in 2012, he soon broke into the NHL, playing seven years in Philly and going through the battles with such players as defenseman Radko Gudas.
Yes, that Gudas, the former Flyers defenseman now with the Panthers. The two remain friends, Gostisbehere said, although they’ll now put that friendship aside for a while.
In an interesting twist, Gostisbehere’s first career NHL point came on an assist for the Flyers against the Hurricanes in November 2015. He finished that season with 17 goals and was the first rookie in NHL history to have four overtime winners in a season.
But Gostisbehere’s pro career has been disrupted by injuries. He has had a torn ACL. He had hip surgery. He had more knee surgery. It’s the usual wear and tear that D-men have in the NHL as the collisions come, again and again.
One thing missing in Gostisbehere’s career has been the Cup. Dealt to the Canes by the Arizona Coyotes on March 1, before the NHL trade deadline, he has that chance.
Gostisbehere said the question he has gotten most often from former teammates was one he expected: What’s it like playing with Rod Brind’Amour as your coach?
“He has been awesome,” Gostisbehere said. “He’s cut and dried. He expects a lot from you and we expect a lot from him to prepare us, and obviously you want to play for a coach who has that much fire and cares.
“I think the best thing about Roddy, the hockey part aside, is how much he cares about your family. I think he asked me the first week how I was settling in, was everything OK with me and my wife getting here. He cares not only about the hockey player but the person, as well.”
Gostisbehere was once the “new guy” in the room, learning a new system on the fly, working on a new power-play unit, teaming with a new defensive partner in Jalen Chatfield.
“I think you’ve got to build a chemistry with a guy, and after a few games I started to get a read on what ‘Ghost’ likes to do,” Chatfield said. “He’s a great player for us. He’s got some skill and has played a lot of games and it’s been fun playing with him.”
This deep into the playoffs, Gostisbehere has a sense not only of his place on this Hurricanes team but the ability to write some history with this team.
“It’s fun to be on a winning team again,” Gostisbehere said. “Obviously a couple of years in the desert was a little tough, but this was a chance to find your game, find your confidence and that hopefully can springboard you into an opportunity like this.
“Any time you have a chance to win the Cup, it’s pretty awesome. Obviously I’m a little older now, but any chance you get you’ve got to take it.”
This story was originally published May 14, 2023 at 7:00 AM with the headline "One Hurricanes player was once a ‘die-hard’ Panthers fan. Now, he wants to beat them."
