MIAMI (AP) — Panthers forward Brad Marchand remembers a few times when he and the Boston Bruins would play games in the state of Florida and be impressed by what they were hearing from the crowds.
Those fans were rooting … for the Bruins.
It’s not remotely close to being like that anymore.
The Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning have finished atop the hockey world four times in the last six seasons — the Stanley Cup is basically a Sunshine State resident now — and the growth of hockey all across the state, from youth to adult levels, is well documented. And the outdoor games in the state, one Friday in Miami (the Rangers won, 5-1) and the next one that’s coming next month in Tampa, only figure to keep the momentum going.
“The amount of love that has grown for this game here is pretty incredible,” said Marchand, who has often raved about where hockey is headed in Florida since he came to the Panthers last year. “You used to come down here and a lot of opposing teams would kind of take over the building. And now it just doesn’t matter where you go — the fan support is unbelievable, and this is just going to add to it. The two outdoor games that we play here, between here and Tampa, are just going to add more excitement, more love for the game.”
And that’s exactly what the NHL wanted, of course. It could play these outdoor games anywhere and draw big viewership numbers, sold-out crowds and celebrated the sport appropriately. But it finally chose to give the Sunshine State a shot.
A challenge, for certain. But so far, so good. And the Panthers — the back-to-back reigning Cup champions — have gone from a franchise dogged by constant rumors of moving to being perhaps the hottest ticket in town.
“Just go to their practice facility and see what they’ve done to the War Memorial in Fort Lauderdale. It’s simply incredible,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said Friday night in a televised interview on TNT from loanDepot Park, the baseball stadium where the Panthers played the New York Rangers. “And the results speak for themselves. They have a great fan base down here in South Florida. Selling out this building was not an issue at all. We could have probably sold it out if it was twice as big.”
The impact of Friday’s game will be felt in parts of Miami for a long time. Students at a downtown Miami high school — 100 were guests of the NHL for the Panthers-Rangers game — will receive a synthetic ice hockey rink next week, a gift from the league. Hockey equipment is coming as well, and students will eventually have the chance to learn to skate and play on an outdoor rink that mimics the feel of real ice without a need for maintenance or expensive upkeep.
In time, the score of the Rangers’ win probably be forgotten. The NHL’s hope is that the game — or at least the impact — will be remembered.
“Look at the two teams that are in Florida — Tampa and the Panthers. They’re two of the better teams in the league right now with the teams that they’ve assembled and put together,” Rangers coach Mike Sullivan said. “I think that can only help the influence down here in this region of the country. I can only imagine the next generation of young hockey players that will come out of southern Florida because of the impact that these teams and these individual players are having on the next generation.”
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