Jessica King couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
The 11-year-old native of Barbados had just participated in a Florida Panthers hockey clinic in her country in August. It was her first exposure to hockey, and she met Panthers defensemen Alex Petrovic and Ian McCoshen.
Recently retired player Shawn Thornton, now the Panthers’ VP of Business Operations, also took part in teaching hockey to the 20 or so kids who attended.
Soon after the clinic, Jessica and her mother Googled the Panthers players, and that’s when the shock hit. Jessica was stunned to see her favorite Panther — Petrovic, who had been so “nice” — had been photographed brawling in an NHL game, which of course is fairly common to those who know the sport.