(Sunrise) There are some proud traditions in hockey, and among them is the habit of trying to make yourself believe that every game is the same.
This is a bit what the members of the Florida Panthers want to do before the start of this Stanley Cup final, which will begin Saturday evening at Sunrise.
We had to see defender Brandon Montour in the club locker room on Saturday morning, with his hands in his face, explaining to us that his little Saturday morning had been “as usual”. We had to hear Evan Rodrigues tell us he’s “excited”, without ever giving the impression that it was true. Paul Maurice, the coach of this group, spoke with the same monotone of the one who must prepare his club for Columbus on a small Tuesday.
The idea, obviously, is to make this match just another match, to make this series just another series, in order to prevent the players from becoming as nervous as a pack of sausages at hot dogs in full view of Joey Chestnut.
To make sure this game was just another game, the Panthers took advantage of this Saturday morning in Fort Lauderdale to hold a light practice, much like any other Saturday practice since the start of the season.
Nothing more, nothing less.
“I think the guys are ready,” added Brandon Montour. We are well rested, and we are ready to get back on track. »
So on Saturday morning, all the Panthers wanted to say that they are fresh as roses, or at least, something like that.
“We all can’t wait for it to start,” Evan Rodrigues repeated. It’s been great being with this team all season, and obviously everyone always talks about reaching the final, that’s the goal, but with us the message was that we were going to get back there. »
Rodrigues added that on his team, “everyone has already played big games, maybe not as big, but still,” which suggests that the Panthers will not stand frozen in the face of the immensity of the moment, and that all of this, basically, is just another match, if we understand correctly.
“That’s what we do all season long,” he said. “When the puck drops for the first time in the first game, we’re going to do what we’ve done all season long.”
As luck would have it, things started to fall when all these beautiful people wanted to leave the small training center in this somewhat remote corner of Fort Lauderdale. A storm unleashed without warning, the kind we see so often in Florida, and for Panthers looking for normalcy and routine and all that’s usual, maybe that’s a good sign.