SUNRISE, Fla. – Before the fame, South Florida native Ariana Grande was a huge Florida Panthers hockey fan, but she was struck by some pucks while at a few home games.
A photo of a South Florida SunSentinel article from Oct. 10, 1998, featuring the pop star on the Panthers' Zamboni has recently gone viral on Twitter. She had been to almost every home game since she turned 2.
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In the 1998 article, Grande's mother, Joan Grande-Butera, told the SunSentinel about a game a few months previously, when her daughter was hit in the right wrist by a puck from former Panthers hockey player Gord Murphy.
if i’m honest ..... this is still exactly what i look like without lashes and my pony ..... anyone who knows me knows me knows ..... like .... i’m twenty five. i was five here. the only difference now is that hand now says bbq grill finger. pic.twitter.com/rkAbXla1YF
— Ariana Grande (@ArianaGrande) February 10, 2019
Grande was then hit a second time at a game in October 1998 by a puck from a Tampa Bay hockey player, this time in the left wrist.
She was diagnosed with just a few bruises both times and got to ride the Zamboni at the Panthers game while waving to the fans.
"She is such a great fan that we bought her the ride at an auction," Grande's mother said in the article. The price tag was $200.
Grande is now a Grammy Award-winning artist and has not been hit by a hockey puck since.