Florida Panthers Stanley Cup Championship: After waiting 30 years, fans’ joy defies rain, lightning, flood advisory

FORT LAUDERDALE BEACH, Fla. — A Sunday thunderstorm did not stop The Florida Panthers Stanley Cup champions from celebrating their Monday night victory against Edmonton with their fans for hours in Fort Lauderdale Beach.

Some fans waited three decades for the victory, so they didn’t mind waiting for hours — under menacing clouds, rain, lighting, and a flood advisory — to participate in a beachside parade and outdoor rally.

The peal of trumpets was at Riomar Street. Police officers rode on motorcycles. A traditional Scottish band marched. White-clad dancers glided on the pavement. Fans cheered along State Road A1A.

“When I was drafted 10 years ago, 2013, I would have never believed that this day would come and here I am with my teammates, with the team Violas, management, everyone, we are here in front of you, all together on a rainy day, during hurricane season, we are here on the beach celebrating,” Aleksander Barkov, the Florida Panthers captain, said to great cheer.

The players carried the Stanley Cup and the Title Belt on the top of ruby-red double-decker buses as they interacted with tens of thousands of fans. Some were at beachfront hotels, standing on balconies, and second-floor terraces.

“Every guy back here considers you guys family, ” Bill Zito, the team’s general manager, told fans after pointing to the players. “The way you stayed out in the rain, and supported us ... Thank you.”

Matthew Tkachuk stopped at the Elbo Room, a bar that opened in 1938. The American-Canadian forward and alternate captain also jumped into the Atlantic Ocean. A group of fans surrounded him.

Tkachuk, 26, later smoked a cigar and described the celebration to fans as the best day of his “entire” life.

“The Fort Lauderdale police and fire department, this had been the greatest day ever,” Tkachuck said. “Thank you for everything.”

The parade ended at Southeast Fifth Street. After getting out of the double-decker bus, Ryan Lomberg walked through the crowd while holding the Stanley Cup and handing it to Carter Verhaeghe who hand-delivered it to the stage on the beach.

The Stanley Cup had already been filled with champagne, beer, three kids, and Roberto Luongo’s pasta, but it was gleaming and wet with rain. Some fans had missed the parade to line up for the rally that started after Vehaeghe placed The Stanley Cup on a red platform.

The crowd’s cheer was loud. The speakers on the rally stage blasted the song of the day: “We Are The Champions!”

Matthew Caldwell, the Florida Panthers president, said he wanted it to be that way.

“It’s unbelievable to see how players win, and be with you at the Elbo Room, be with you at Pompano Beach, Sunrise, to Miami — all over South Florida,” Caldwell told fans. ”When many teams win championships, they go to Vegas or they go somewhere else. Our people stay right here, locally with all of you.”

Monica Cepera, the Broward County administrator, announced commissioners declared June 30 was Florida Panthers Day. There were a few speeches thanking fans for their loyalty.

“In my first interview, they asked me why I came to Florida. My answer was, ‘Because I want to with The Cup, and I want to do it here.’ And now he were are, five years later celebrating the biggest victory of this franchise,” said Sergei Bobrovsky, who was born in Novokuznetsk, a city in south-central Russia, about joining the Panthers in 2019.

Linus Eriksson, who wore the Swedish flag as a cape, and Aaron Ekblad were among the Florida Panthers players who took turns on stage to lift and kiss The Stanley Cup.

Florida Panthers Coach Paul Maurice delivered on a promise. He stood on the rally stage and showed off his white T-shirt showing the faces of his two family cats Penny and Poppy over the team’s icons.

“My daughter made this shirt,” Maurice told fans during the rally. “I promised her, ‘If we win the Stanley Cup, I am wearing the shirt!’”

The party got wild and dangerous at times. Maurice said fire rescue personnel had treated one of his daughters after someone threw a beer can during the parade and it hit her in the head.

Vincent Viola, who bought the Florida Panthers in 2013 for about $250 million, danced on stage before Steve Goldstein, the team’s play-by-play announcer, introduced him.