“WE WANT
FLORIDA” originated in the
2023 Stanley
Cup Playoffs. Shortly after the Toronto Maple Leafs finally won a playoff series (since god knows when), childish Leaf fans were yelling “We Want Florida”, really wishing their next opponent to be the lower seeded Florida Panthers instead of the Boston Bruins (due to PTSD from 2013, 2018,
2019). Turns out Leaf Fans got exactly what they wanted…at an embarrasing cost. The Florida Panthers would quickly take a 3-0 series lead, where their fans would mockingly chant “WE WANT FLORIDA”. Florida would eventually choke the Leafs out of the series 4-1 in Toronto (with their veteran Radko Gudas professionally screaming into the Leafs Goaltender’s
Face), and Panther’s forward
Matthew Tkachuk would comment how
happy he was to not hear many “We want Florida” chants by leaf fans.
Subsequentially The Florida Panthers would sell a “We Want Florida” shirt to mock the Leafs and other teams that underestimated them. Toronto would be ridiculed with this chant by both Florida fans and other
anti-Toronto fans. Montreal Fans would chant this at a soccer match between Toronto.
In the next season, Panther fans would continue mocking the Leafs with this chant at their
home openers and closures against Toronto (especially after taking a 3 goal lead in their last regular season
game)
