The Columbus Blue Jackets and Florida Panthers made a heartwarming tribute to Johnny Gaudreau on Tuesday.
The 2024-25 NHL season has officially started in Columbus, with Tuesday being the Blue Jackets’ home opener in front of their fans. And, as expected, the tributes for Gaudreau and his brother Matthew — who were killed in a tragic accident that shouldn’t have happened in August — poured in throughout the evening.
Perhaps the most touching moment of all came before Tuesday’s game started, as both the Blue Jackets and Panthers stepped out onto the ice for pregame warmups in No. 13 jerseys, a tribute to the number worn by Gaudreau throughout his career.
Tonight during warmups, both teams will honor Johnny by wearing his jersey ❤️💙 pic.twitter.com/WQtaJ34Cr8
Boston Bruins forward Max Jones got off on the wrong foot to start the new NHL season on Tuesday night.
While engaged in a scuffle with Florida Panthers winger Evan Rodrigues, Jones accidentally slashed his hockey stick at a referee’s arm.
You could see the look on both of the players’ faces after Jones made accidental contact with the official instead of Rodrigues’ stick. Another referee quickly called a foul on Jones for the incident.
Jones immediately went to check on the referee after the hit and looked sorry for the mix-up, as this was an honest mistake in a rough-and-tumble game.
However, accidentally slashing a referee will typically get you sent to the box.
Mother natured rained on the Florida Panthers’ Stanley Cup parade Sunday, but the team and its fans didn’t let a little precipitation ruin their celebration.
Videos of fans gathering for the parade along Fort Lauderdale Beach surfaced on social media, and the rain appeared to be coming down pretty hard. But it wasn’t enough to dampen a special moment after the first championship in franchise history.
He sought him out during the on-ice celebrations, letting the elder Tkachuk finally experience the ultimate hockey nirvana. For folks who watched Keith dominate as a power forward in the 1990s and early 2000s, this was quite a sight:
What a beautiful moment for the Tkachuks. A moment that was decades in the making. Now Brady just has to complete the trifecta and earn a Cup of his own.
If you were a Florida Panthers player who just won the Stanley Cup the night before, and there was an entire ocean to go into with it, what would you do?
That’s exactly what happened on Tuesday, as the Panthers’ party the night before continued well into the day. Matthew Tkachuk took the Cup for a dip and it was delightful — the walk on to the beach had big Rocky II training montage vibes.
The Tkachuk name is finally going on the Stanley Cup more than 30 years after Keith broke into the NHL.
Matthew Tkachuk, Keith’s oldest son, helped lead the Florida Panthers to their first championship in franchise history as they defeated the Edmonton Oilers in Game 7 on Monday night.
There’s a good — and pretty classic — reason for this.
Hockey players, like most pro athletes, are incredibly superstitious, and there’s a long held belief that any player who touches the Stanley Cup before winning it will never win a championship.
Considering Brady Tkachuk, who plays for the Ottawa Senators, is still 24 with a whole career ahead of him, it makes sense he wouldn’t want to tempt fate.
That left him trying to celebrate his brother’s victory without cursing his own chances of winning the Cup. It seems like he struck a solid balance, all things considered. The Senators (+400) are tied for the 10th-best odds to win the Cup in 2025, so it was probably a good move.
“I know my brother (Brady) is going to do it very soon. He’s an unbelievable player built for the playoffs, I can’t wait to see him play in the playoffs and a Stanley Cup final soon, he’s too good,” Matthew Tkachuk on Brady Tkachuk. #Sens
Brooks Koepka was so stoked about the Panthers winning the Stanley Cup!
This Florida Panthers’ Stanley Cup victory has been a long time coming for Brooks Koepka.
Koepka — long-time PGA Tour champion — is quite the Panthers superfan, going so far as to rush to a Stanley Cup playoff game the day after winning the PGA Championship last year. And this latest turn of the Panthers finally winning the Stanley Cup has Koepka stoked, to say the least.
Jena Sims, Koepka’s wife, posted a pair of videos to TikTok showing just how excited the golfer was as the Panthers won the Stanley Cup. From excitedly jumping around after the final buzzer to mimicking kissing the Stanley Cup, Koepka’s reaction is exactly the level of hype as you’d expect from a Panthers fan.
Gooood morning, Winners! Welcome back to the Morning Win. Thanks so much for rocking with us today here at FTW. We appreciate you giving us a bit of your time.
What a Stanley Cup Final, man. I take back everything I said about this series when the Panthers were up 3-0. I called this one of the worst Final I’d ever seen. As it turns out, this one was pretty epic.
Game 7 completely lived up to its billing. Last night, we saw two teams scratching and clawing their way to glory on the ice between Edmonton and Florida.
This one was nip and tuck with Florida barely coming out on top 2-1. It didn’t have to be this way.
A miraculous blind save from Dmitry Kulikov kept the Panthers even with the Oilers on the attack. Then, literal seconds later, Sam Reinhart broke the tie with a goal of his own.
That wasn’t all. The Oilers had yet another opportunity to tie the game. Eventual Conn Smythe trophy winner Connor McDavid had the puck on his stick with Sergei Bobrovsky outside of the net in the third period. Yet, thanks to an unbelievable stick check from Gustav Forsling, a goal was saved. McDavid couldn’t knot things up at 2-2.
These two teams fought hard. This game was physical. Every inch on the ice mattered. Ultimately, Florida played the more physical game and wore Edmonton down. But it wasn’t for lack of effort on the Oilers’ part.
It’s no wonder both teams played so hard. Glory was there for the taking as both sides were trying to stave off decades of lowly history.
Edmonton carried the weight of an entire country on its back. Have you heard? Lord Stanley hasn’t touched Canadian soil in 31 years. The Oilers had a chance to change that with a win in Game 7. Connor McDavid is the NHL’s best, but he would’ve cemented himself as an all-timer had the Oilers pulled off the greatest comeback in NHL history.
For the Panthers, it wasn’t a country. It was the franchise’s own shameful history that it had to stare down.
Of course, Florida made the playoffs in each of the last five seasons. But check the previous 25 years — you’ll see the same number of playoff appearances as the last five. There’s only one Stanley Cup Final appearance and that’s from 1996.
Not only was this team not good — it was an embarrassment. People didn’t even come to the games. Season tickets were seven dollars at one point. That’s how bad things were.
And now look. That same franchise that couldn’t put butts in seats is now hoisting the Stanley Cup trophy. It’s incredible how these things go.
Now, the Panthers are champions. They don’t have to worry about that anymore. The stands are filled every night and the ice is covered by plastic rats.
Congrats, Florida. You deserve it.
The cold world of Track and Field
Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
While the Panthers and Oilers were battling it out on the ice, U.S. Track and Field Olympic trials were underway.
One of the stars folks were looking forward to seeing in Paris was Athing Mu, the winner of the 800m in the 2020 Olympic Games. Unfortunately, she won’t be making it to Paris this year to defend her gold medal.
Mu stumbled about 200 meters into the women’s 800m, causing her to fall behind and completely out of the race. Meanwhile, Nia Akins (1:57.36) ran the fastest time of her life to lock in the win and solidify her spot in Paris.
It’s tough, man. So tough. As Rai Benjamin said, it feels unfair because you know Mu is supposed to be there. She’s the absolute best at this. But the rules don’t change for anyone. Mu messed up. Unfortunately, these are the consequences.
That doesn’t take away the heartbreak, though. This shot of Mu’s devastation as she walks by Akins, Allie Wilson and Juliette Whittaker after they all qualified for Paris is just so painful to watch.
The direct camera contrast of Nia Akins, Allie Wilson and Juliette Whittaker’s joy, and Athing Mu’s devastation walking by them, is as REAL as Sports gets. pic.twitter.com/MBv8yDlhb6
— Andrew Jerell Jones, Luke 1:37 (IG:twdbk3) (@sluggahjells) June 25, 2024
Sports, man. It can be the best. But it can also be the worst in that same moment for someone else. What a tough way to go out.
Speaking of champions…
(Photo by Peter Aiken/Getty Images)
Tennessee won its first national championship in any sport in 15 years last night with the Vols staving off Texas A&M in Game 3 of the College World Series Final.
This is a huge win for Tennessee. Here’s Cory Woodroof with more:
“Per the school, the last time a Vols team won a championship was the women’s indoor track and field team in 2009, with the women’s basketball team winning back-to-back national titles in 2007 and 2008 under legend Pat Summitt.
For comparison, the men’s basketball team has never won a national championship and the football team hasn’t won one since 1998.
This is the Volunteers baseball team’s first-ever national title, making it even sweeter on Rocky Top for the national championship drought to finally end.”
I’m sure the Vols’ football fans hope they can keep the good vibes going.
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So maybe it’s not that surprising that after 26 years coaching NHL teams — from Hartford (yes, that’s how long he’s been around) to Carolina (twice) to the Toronto Maple Leafs to the Winnipeg Jets — he’d have something to say to the Stanley Cup.
Yes, I’m serious. ESPN caught the Florida Panthers head coach just as he got to hoist the Cup, and he said something to it before his big lift.
So what did he say?
“Oh, I’ve been chasing that for a while, unkind words about how hard she was to catch,” he told ESPN’s Emily Kaplan.
A beautiful moment, and the emotions Maurice went through all night were a part of all of his interviews:
Paul Maurice gets the Cup mid-interview and then gives one of the most heartfelt interviews you will ever see ❤️ pic.twitter.com/gMxHW4aL7U
For an athlete to reach the professional ranks of their respective sport is an extreme source of pride for the hometown and high school they came from. For that athlete to reach star status and win a championship only heightens that sense of pride.
But what is it like to have two athletes from the same school do it all in the same month? We’ll have to ask Chaminade College Preparatory School in St. Louis. Because after Matthew Tkachuk’s triumph with the Florida Panthers Monday night followed his buddy Jayson Tatum winning an NBA title for the Boston Celtics last week, Chaminade is one of the few schools to know that over-the-moon feeling.
After Florida won the Stanley Cup, Tkachuk said everyone back home should be very proud.
“Two champs from St. Louis, are you kidding me right now?” Tkachuk said. “Chaminade, everybody there. All the teachers, classmates, you guys should be very proud.”
They are, Matthew. They are.
Chaminade principal Philip Rone said as much in a tweet, adding that Tkachuk should be proud too. And he had a lot more to say about “The Hilltop of Champions.”
