(Sunrise) There was a time when you could come to hockey around here for cheap, with free parking and also free hot dogs to go with the ridiculous ticket price, but those days are gone, obviously.
Arriving around the arena Friday morning, it was the price of parking, displayed in large letters, that stood out: $75. Then, how to say? This buzz, this atmosphere, this fervor that we were hardly used to finding here, not often anyway, in this field called Sunrise, a corner best known to Quebecers because of its immense shopping center planted with the other side of the street, where people come to buy linen at 50% off during the holidays while waiting for the Canadiens game in the evening.
The Panthers aren’t used to this much attention. From 2000-01 to 2018-19, they missed the playoffs 16 out of 18 seasons, including a very long drought of 10 straight seasons without playing a single playoff game.
But Matthew Tkachuk doesn’t really remember all that, and anyway, he prefers to talk about what’s happening now.
PHOTO SAM NAVARRO, USA TODAY SPORTS
Matthew Tkachuk
It’s the best place to win and play hockey. I would say it’s a great time to be a member of this team…
Matthew Tkachuk
This is not false. For a second year in a row, the Panthers find themselves in the Stanley Cup final, this time against the Edmonton Oilers, with game number one scheduled for Saturday evening.
“I went for a walk a few days ago, and then from Miami to West Palm Beach, everyone talks to me about it,” enthused the fiery striker. We see, hockey here continues to grow. If I can compare with what I saw when I came to this league in 2016, I would say it’s night and day. »
Tkachuk, a member of the Panthers for only two seasons, obviously hasn’t had the down years around here. His colleague Aaron Ekblad was not so lucky; When he arrived here in 2014, the defender mostly experienced defeat, often, with teams missing the playoffs four times in his first five seasons with the club.
He too believes that things have changed under the palm trees.
“I would say there has been a huge culture change with our team,” Ekblad said. We went through several coaches, also a few general managers, and now there is a solid foundation on which we can build. We don’t have to go through as many changes anymore, and I think that’s very good for the organization.
Over time, there is a culture that has been established here, and it starts from the top, with the management of the club. Then, it is up to the players to submit themselves to higher standards.
Aaron Ekblad
With the victory came the results, and the Panthers, who almost always played in a half-empty arena except for the Canadiens’ annual holiday visit, found themselves this season with an average of 16,682 fans per game , the 13e average in NHL assist rankings in 2023-24. Attendance here has jumped 11.7% this season, the largest increase in this regard in the circuit.
All they need is a Stanley Cup, something they have never been able to obtain since their birth in 1993, a drought as long as the last Cup won by a Canadian club, moreover.
“It’s a terrible feeling to lose in the final like last year, and it’s not something you look for,” added Aaron Ekblad. But I would say we learned from last year. »
Around here, we also learned that parking and hot dogs will never be free again.