Hockey in Florida: Who To Root For

In recent years, hockey in Florida has taken the sports world by storm. With the NHL dynamics being the way they are, who do hockey fans in Florida root for this Stanley Cup Final?

Florida or Alberta?

Despite hockey originating from Canada and being wildly unpopular down south, Florida hockey teams have managed to out perform the colder teams at their own game by winning championship titles at both the NHL and ECHL level for the past 4 years.

Tampa Bay Lighting: Back-to-back Stanley Cup Champions of 2020 and 2021.

Florida Everblades: Back-to-back-to-back Kelly Cup Champions of 2022, 2023 and 2024.

While there are more notable 'Hockey in Florida' mentions that come to mind such as the Jacksonville Icemen and Orlando Solar Bears clinching playoff spots this post-season along with the Tampa Bay Lightning doing the same, there's another NHL team that has the opportunity to extend the Florida Championship streak by winning tonights game 6 in the Stanley Cup Finals:

The Florida Panthers.

With Florida establishing themselves as a hockey state, you get some mixed reactions from long time fans; more specifically, those who I priorly referred to as 'the colder teams,' and FL fans butting heads over who to root for in the Stanley Cup Finals.

Because hockey in Florida is split down the middle, there's an understood rivalry that was fueled after the Panthers gave the Lightning a first round exit in the playoffs this year.

Now that the Panthers are one game away from winning the Stanley Cup over the Oilers, it's natural that Lightning fans wouldn't be opposed to see McDavid hoist the cup, especially with the their two consecutive wins over the Panthers with their backs up against a wall.

"The biggest thing with the Panthers is they defend the net really well... I would say the Oilers are the first team in the post season that's been able to draw them away from the net and leave Bobrovsky on his own against Connor McDavid," said Tampa Bay Lightning Reporter Diandra Loux.

But on the other hand, Hockey has been commonly claimed by Canadian teams and Florida talent was easily overlooked until the Lightning took up space in the league and put the state on the map.

The Panthers taking the series could mean prolonging that level of respect for the Gulf Coast.

"It's great to see the sport grow but I think so much of the credit needs to be given to the Lighting for the way that they've done outreach in the community, how they've grown the sport in Tampa and Orlando, and the way they do their development programs. Their efforts to grow the game is huge," said Loux.

So in this Stanley Cup Final we are presented with both sides, which puts Florida hockey fans in between a rock and a hard place:

"Tampa sparked the Florida takeover and we're the most dominant Florida team; Go Oilers!"

Or..

"Hockey in Florida is dominant and we can prove that; Go Panthers!"

Regardless of if the Panthers take the series tonight or if the Oilers come back after being down 3-0 overall, there's a reason to root for both teams aside from where you're from: Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice, and Oilers legend Connor McDavid.

Looking past the rivalries and opinions, Maurice and McDavid are two people who normally have 3,000 miles in between them and have met to display years of hard work to give the hockey world a best of seven series that represents much more than just being named champions.

And as long as it's a good game, the fans will suffice!