Panthers lift their championship banner, capping their Stanley Cup celebrations

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Aleksander Barkov ended last season by hoisting the Stanley Cup, as the Florida Panthers fans got to roar in delight.

And this season started the same way.

Barkov, the Panthers’ captain, skated the Cup onto the ice Tuesday night moments before Florida hoisted its first championship banner to the rafters — with players all arm-in-arm as they gazed at the building’s newest memento. The Panthers posed with the Cup one more time after the banner made its 2-minute trip skyward, and then, finally, it was time for a new season to begin with a season-opener against the Boston Bruins.

“Now we get to try to chase it again,” Barkov said.

They played Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final on the giant video screens over the ice before warmups, fans cheering again when Sam Reinhart scored the go-ahead goal and getting even louder when the final seconds where shown.

And then came the real ovation — when the final part of the Cup celebration came and the banner took its place in the rafters. Florida sent the fans home happy, scoring four first-period goals and beating the Bruins 6-4.

“I kind of felt like that was the closing to last season,” Florida forward Evan Rodrigues said. “It was cool to see that go up. And then we kind of flipped the page immediately and we got to our game.”

The pregame ceremony capped 3 1/2 months of reveling in the franchise’s first title. Players, coaches and some staff got their championship rings on Monday in a private ceremony, then gazed skyward Tuesday when the banner was raised. Also getting replica rings: 158 season-ticket holders that the Panthers call “legacy members,” who have had tickets with the franchise since its inaugural season.

“The fans will really enjoy the banner,” said Panthers forward Carter Verhaeghe, who had the first goal of Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final to help Florida beat Edmonton 2-1 for the title on June 24. “Looking up there, I guess if you need a little inspiration, you just look up there and see what we accomplished.”

For the championship banner, the Panthers decided upon one with a white background, the words “Stanley Cup Champions” in red at the top, “2024” in red at the bottom, with the image of the Cup in the center just above the team’s logo. It was hoisted over the end of the ice where Florida kept the puck pinned along the boards as the final seconds of Game 7 ran off and a championship celebration 30 years in the making got underway.

The other banners from last season — commemorating the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference titles — were already in the rafters, alongside two other conference title banners, three others for division championships and one for winning the Presidents’ Trophy as the best regular-season team in 2021-22.

It was a summer filled with plenty of joy for Florida, as the Cup made its tour to the homelands of most players so it could be shared with friends and family. It all started with a parade with an estimated crowd of 300,000 braving thunder, lightning and a downpour, and the Cup made countless appearances in South Florida and beyond over the past few weeks.

As fun as it was, Panthers general manager and hockey operations president Bill Zito said it’s time to pivot to a new season — something he thinks players began doing weeks ago, even before training camp started.

“I think, at least for me, I’m already there,” Zito said. “I’m just so excited for an NHL game tonight. I can tell you, I thought that yesterday before the rings. And then when I opened the box, it was one of those surreal moments. We used the word ‘speechless.’ I was speechless. And it was pretty neat to have that happen.”

The banner hoisting was preceded by the showing of a highlight video capturing the key moments from last season’s run to the championship. And then Game 1 of a new season went just as Florida would have wanted.

“There was great energy in the building tonight,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said.