Carter Verhaeghe Alexander Tamargo/Getty Images
After three decades of futility, the Florida Panthers won their first-ever Stanley Cup last month – and they celebrated accordingly.
Panthers’ left winger Carter Verhaeghe shared that the team feted their 2-1 Game 7 win over the Edmonton Oilers on June 24 until the wee hours of the morning.
“The best time we had, I think, was in the locker room after. I think we stayed until 5 a.m.,” Verhaeghe exclusively told Us Weekly on the ESPYs red carpet in Los Angeles on Thursday, July 11. “You couldn’t see in the room [because] it was so cloudy from all the cigars. It was awesome.”
Verhaeghe said the celebration wasn’t just limited to players and coaches.
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“Everyone was in there. Management, too. We were dumping the Cup on them full of beer,” he said. “It was a great celebration. There’s some things I can’t mention, though.”
You can’t say the long-suffering franchise didn’t deserve to let loose. The Panthers made it to the NHL’s Championship series just three years after their founding but were trounced by the Colorado Avalanche in a four-game sweep. What followed was more than 20 years in the wilderness, with the team failing to win another postseason series until 2022.
Carter Verhaeghe and Casey Engleson Amy Sussman/WireImage
The team reached their first Stanley Cup Finals since ‘96 last season, only to fall to the relative newcomers of the Las Vegas Golden Knights. Their second trip to the Finals in as many seasons was no sure thing, either. The Panthers very nearly suffered a historic collapse, allowing the Oilers to dig their way out of a 3-0 before winning a nailbiter in Game 7.
Given all that tension, it’s not surprising that Verhaeghe is letting himself relax a little in the offseason.
“I’ll relax for a couple weeks. We played so many games the last couple years. I’ve been calming down and letting the body reset,” he told Us. “After about a week of celebrating, the body isn’t holding up as well anymore. So you want to get back in the gym.”
Verhaeghe, who is Canadian, said that he’s been surprised by the dedication of fans so far south.
“It’s been awesome. I’ve been there four years now. Every year it seems like we keep on getting more fans. People are coming up to me, recognizing me everywhere,” he said. “I can’t say enough about them. They’re so supportive … With hockey in Florida, you’d never think that. For it to become what it’s become has been really special.”
Nothing builds a fan base like success and the Sunshine State has had more of that of late than the entirety of the Great White North. The last Canadian team to win a title took the Stanley Cup in 1993, the year the Panthers were founded. Since that Montreal Canadiens championship, Florida-based NHL teams have won four Stanley Cups — with the Panthers’ recent win joining three from their cross-state compatriots in the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Reporting by Dan Trainor
