Dwork On Sports: Panthers Goals Sound Great In Any Language
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Welcome to the Dwork On Sports blog. This is a place where I'll cover all things related to South Florida sports, with a steady combination of facts and opinions while ultimately keeping a close eye on anything and everything related to our local teams.
Fans of the Florida Panthers haven't had much to cheer about for a long time. Minor accomplishments took the place of major ones, such as making the playoffs or succeeding thereafter.
But times they are a changing.
After 39 games played this season the Panthers are sitting pretty atop the Atlantic Division with an impressive 23-12-4 record and a three point lead over second place Montreal, who has played one more game than the Cats.
Florida boasts the third best goal differential in the league at +21, trailing only the league's two powerhouse teams in Washington (+38) and Dallas (+37).
There is no mistaking that this young team is on the rise and that there should most certainly be more good times ahead.
Along with the Panthers success has been a growing interest in the team from a national standpoint with both fans and the media.
One of the more fun things that has gained traction in South Florida and is trickling out further across the league is the Panthers Spanish broadcasts, specifically the goal calls of Arley Londoño.
Following Florida's 2-1 win over the Minnesota Wild on Sunday, Londoño's call of Jaromir Jagr's first goal of the game went viral.
It isn't the first time that has happened, and it surely won't be the last.
Londoño was the Panthers original Spanish broadcaster when the team first began play in 1993. He was there for the magical run to the Stanley Cup Finals in 1996.
When the team brought him back last season to broadcast a few of the team's home games it had no idea how strong the response from fans would be.
Originally planned for just three games, Florida quickly added another handful to be broadcast locally on 1210AM ESPN Deportes in Miami and 760AM ESPN Deportes in West Palm Beach.
With the success of the broadcasts last season, the team added 1210AM to the Florida Panthers Radio Network and scheduled all 41 of Florida's home games in 2015-16 to be featured on the station's airwaves.
During a season that, so far, has been full of fun moments, this just adds to it.
Unfortunately for fans of the broadcasts, the Panthers are beginning a season-long six game road trip on Tuesday in Buffalo, so it will be a couple weeks before Londoño can be heard doing something like this:
In the meantime, you can click here to listen to Londoño's goal calls on demand.
The Panthers face the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday, January 5th at 7:00 p.m. You can hear every game on Sports Radio 560 WQAM, the radio home of the Florida Panthers.