By Abigail Hasebroock, Lauren Ferrer, Kari Barnett, Jackson Castellano, Adam Lichtenstein, South Florida Sun-Sentinel,
21 days ago
Fans react during the Florida Panthers Championship Celebration on Sunday, June 30, 2024 at Fort Lauderdale beach. John McCall/South Florida Sun-Sentinel/TNS
A massive crowd of fans converged on Fort Lauderdale for the Florida Panthers’ championship parade — their team spirit shining bright despite all the heavy rain.
The rains began Sunday, and so did a long-awaited celebration that lasted for hours. Aleksander Barkov, the Florida Panthers’ captain, filled a fan’s shoe with beer and tossed it back.
Barkov and other famed Panthers’ players, each soaked from the thunderstorm, took turns hoisting their first Stanley Cup over their heads as they stood atop a team bus during the parade, looking on at the similarly drenched fans below.
“Rain or shine, we’re out here to celebrate the panthers,” said Panthers fan Ashley Arsenal. “We’re just here for the party.”
Avery Sanquist, who had come with Arsenal from Jupiter, ran to an overhang to seek shelter from the rain when it first started. Underneath Panthers baseball caps, their hair was soaking wet, but they chanted with everyone else anyway.
“The rain will not stop us,” Sanquist said.
As the rain cleared, the excitement only became more palpable, especially as more players entered the scene. Players Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Bennett granted high-fives to roaring fans along street barriers, cigars hanging out of their mouths. Nick Cousins, another Panthers’ player, made a show of getting off the team’s bus to chug a beer.
Raheem Mostert from the Dolphins was seen walking along the parade route and high-fiving fans.
At Bo’s Beach, a restaurant and bar across the street from the rally stage, fans chanted, “(expletive) the lightning,” in reference to the storm and the Panthers’ cross-state rival, the Tampa Bay Lightning.
After the rain subsided, a raucous group of people rushed into the Atlantic, hoping for a selfie with or even just a glimpse of Tkachuk, who was thought to be in the water at the time.
The storms spurred a delay to the start of the parade, but a little rain and brief holdup were nothing for the fans.
Elena Cohan, who left her home in Redland with her husband at 5 a.m., secured a prime spot in front of the Elbo Room, a fan-favorite bar where a sea of red, blue and white gathered, generating buzz before the parade.
Also early to arrive was Geo Lubbers, 18, who sat on striped towels with his friends, Farrah Sorhage, 17, and Syler Galmiche, 16, facing the ocean. They marked their territory by staking a large Panthers flag in the sand.
The trio, who hailed from Fort Lauderdale, arrived at the beach about 7:30 a.m.
“I want to see the Cup,” Lubbers said, adorning a blue Aleksander Barkov jersey. “I started going to the games four years ago. It really pushed me to want to play hockey.”
Rainy Stetler, also from Fort Lauderdale, brought her daughter and granddaughter to the parade.
“I’ve been watching (the Panthers) for years, and to see what they’ve gone through is just, it’s heartbreaking,” she said through tears. “But now that they’ve won the Cup, it definitely calls for a celebration.”
Though there were big crowds, officials didn’t have an attendance tally Sunday. (About 200,000 fans were expected, the mayor had estimated .)
Christina and Bill Curran, along with their son, Cameron, from Plantation, spent Saturday night at the Four Seasons Hotel along the beach in Fort Lauderdale. Plantation would normally be about a 30-minute drive to Fort Lauderdale, but the family’s overnight stay helped them beat the traffic and crowds, without having to wake up before sunrise.
“I love the fact we’re all coming together to support and give love and support to the team who fought for the Cup for us,” Christina Curran said.
“We owe it to them,” Bill Curran said about attending the parade.
At the post-parade rally later Sunday, Panthers’ team captain Barkov said, “I never believed that this day would come. There’s just not enough words for me to say how thankful I am for every single person here.”
When the team took the stage at about 12:30 p.m., team owner Vincent Viola encouraged the crowd to get “crazy,” an offer which coach Paul Maurice took him up on.
Maurice, known for dropping curse words on occasion on the bench and in news conferences, opened his speech with a yell: “30 (expletive) years!”
Maurice’s speech set the tone for the rest of the rally, as players and fans cheered on the team’s historic achievement.
“I heard it’s 70 degrees and sunny in Edmonton,” Tkachuk said. “But they ain’t got no Cup.”
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