Florida captain Sasha Barkov and his fellow Finnish Panthers are bringing their championship celebrations back home
Florida captain Sasha Barkov and his fellow Finnish Panthers are bringing their championship celebrations back home
The past few weeks have sure looked like fun for members of the Florida Panthers.
It’s been about three weeks since the Panthers won the first Stanley Cup in franchise history, defeating the Edmonton Oilers in an epic seven-game series.
In the time since, Florida’s players, coaches and staff members have been having a blast and enjoying all the spoils that come with being a champion.
In the time since the Panthers’ Stanley Cup Championship parade a couple Sunday’s ago, many of Florida’s players have gone back to their usual summer plans, only perhaps with a bit more of a pep in their step than initially anticipated.
Many players who come from outside of North America have returned to their countries of origin, while others have traveled abroad simply because that’s what you do during the offseason.
In the days after Game 7 and between celebrations, Panthers captain Sasha Barkov traveled from South Florida to Italy and back for the wedding of former teammate Henrik Haapala, making sure to return to Fort Lauderdale in time for the championship parade.
Barkov, who is also a huge tennis fan, headed to Wimbledon after the parade to enjoy the festivities and cheer on his girlfriend, Marie Bouzkova, who was competing in the tournament.
After Wimbledon, Barkov traveled further east and joined a few of his countrymen back in Finland for a planned celebration that must have felt even better following a Stanley Cup win.
Over the past few days, the Panthers’ Finnish contingent came together on their native soil to celebrate the wedding of teammate Eetu Luostarinen.
Attending the wedding, and showing up on social media were Barkov, Anton Lundell and Niko Mikkola.
The Finnish foursome started enjoying their championship with people back home long before coming together for Luostarinen’s wedding, and really, almost immediately after their Game 7 win.
Videos posted on social media show Barkov, Mikkola, Luostarinen and Lundell calling into popular Finnish talk show Aamulypsy on Radio Suomipop and it sure sounds like they were enjoying themselves while speaking in their native tongue.
One of the calls came the night after (or two mornings after) Florida claimed the Cup, and another one came, apparently, from inside Club E11even a night later.
There is a tradition for the winners of SM-Liiga, the top hockey league in Finland, to call into the show after their victory, but this time it was the Stanley Cup winners dialing in.
Not too shabby.
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