"Hockey in Florida? You're out of your mind!"
"Yeah, all six of your fans will be stoked."
"You play your games in a shopping mall."
Growing up in South Florida, I had to hear all of these chirps for most of my life.
Although the lunatic fringe continues to lob these insults at the Florida Panthers organization and their fans alike, it's hard to argue with the results.
The Panthers just got done dusting hockey royalty in the Edmonton Oilers to capture their second straight Stanley Cup in front of an absolutely raucous arena filled with rabid fans.
(Also, they play NEXT to a shopping mall, not IN one).
But if you didn't trust your television on Tuesday night, I decided to conduct a bit of empirical research myself.
In the wee hours of Wednesday morning, less than 12 hours after entering the rarefied air of becoming back-to-back Stanley Cup Champions, a majority of the Panthers' roster quietly made their way to Fort Lauderdale Beach and brought the Cup to the infamous Elbo Room dive bar.
No official announcement was made by the team or the players, but the size of the crowd that had amassed by sunrise in the middle of a work week was nothing short of impressive.
And I was among them.
That's me, scraggly attempt at a playoff beard and all, in a sea of hundreds upon hundreds of Panthers fans as the triumphant players looked down on their loyal subjects from the balcony of the grimy Broward County landmark.
Key playoff contributors like Matthew Tkachuk, Conn Smythe winner Sam Bennett, hat-trick scorer Sam Reinhart, and others were all too eager to share their revelry with the people who have been cheering this team on from the beginning.
When the crowd asked to see certain players, each one would make an individual curtain call from behind the bar, Stanley Cup in hand.
When fans begged to be showered with beer, the players were all too quick to oblige.
Even the local fire department got in on the fun!
I only stayed for about an hour and a half, but apparently the crowd only grew as morning turned to day and more players started to arrive (captain Aleksander Barkov and playoff hero Brad Marchand chief among them).
Mind you, this was an impromptu celebration on a workday that, at its zenith, saw thousands of fans flood the streets to cheer on a team that has embraced the South Florida community as one of its own.
Imagine the size and ferociousness of this crowd come Sunday, when the actual planned celebration takes place!
An estimated 200,000 people showed up to last year's parade down A1A - a rather small strip of road that runs down the beach for those who haven't been to Fort Lauderdale - despite lightning and a characteristically torrential summer downpour.
I can hardly anticipate how high that number will be this year, especially when the forecast calls for sunny skies (though it is a fool's errand to predict the weather in South Florida during the summer months).
No more.
No more "six fans" chirps. No more wondering whether hockey will work in the Sunshine State.
The fans showed up in droves for Game 6, just as they have for the past several years, and then showed up in the streets afterward to announce the arrival of a new superpower in professional hockey.
Tuesday night's ass-kicking in front of an incensed and feral crowd, coupled with the next week of debauchery and celebration from both Panthers players and fans, will signal the culmination of this whole experiment and should quell any of those doubts listed above.
South Florida is a hockey town, NHL fans, and it's time to come to terms with that.
from The Latest & Most Breaking News With OutKick https://ift.tt/EvlBPgS