Florida Panthers Stanley Cup champions Tkachuk and Lomberg went wild and fans loved it

FORT LAUDERDALE BEACH, Fla. — The Florida Panthers Stanley Cup champions Matthew Tkachuk and Ryan Lomberg crashed a beer league game on Sunday at the Baptist Health IcePlex in Fort Lauderdale after hanging out with tens of thousands of fans during a parade and rally.

Tkachuk, 26, was dry this time.

Earlier in the day, after getting soaked with rain water and beer he took a dip in the Atlantic Ocean while smoking a cigar — and wearing the Stanley Cup Champions Title Belt.

Tkachuk, of Scottsdale, Arizona, stopped at the Elbo Room. He stood on the bar’s stairs and held the belt over a cheering crowd.

And on the rally’s stage, while some fans held up umbrellas and wore ponchos, he taunted the losing team.

“I heard it’s 70 degrees and sunny in Edmonton, but they ain’t got no Cup,” Tkachuck said.

Lomberg, 29, was shirtless when he got off the double-decker bus. He was holding the Stanley Cup and rushed a crowd of fans who stood along State Road A1A prompting a group of security guards to follow him.

During the rally, military helicopters flew over the crowd on the beach. There were boats with billboards. The Stanely Cup was on a red platform on stage near a podium for speeches. Tkachuck declared it was the best day of his “entire” life.

Lomberg, of Richmond Hill, Canada, didn’t deliver a speech. But while on stage, he saw another opportunity to connect with the fans, and like a rock star he fell backward over a barrier and went crowd surfing.

The fans also went wild when Tkachuk ran inside a hotel.

After the parade and rally, Tkachuk left in style. He wore the belt while riding in the back of a police motorcycle.

Rally on the beach includes cries of victory

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.

“The cup is home,” Viola said. “Let’s get it back again.”

“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.”

“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.”

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.

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!’”

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.

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.”

“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.

“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.

Sights and sounds from beachside parade

Waiting for the parade and rally to start

Complete coverage on YouTube

(Warning: Public expletives during live coverage)

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