Florida Panthers: Players and staff heading to Boston ahead of Hurricane Irma
While Hurricane Irma is expected to hit Florida over the weekend, the players of the Florida Panthers are heading over to Boston for safety.
This category five hurricane (Irma) is certainly nothing to joke about, as people have prepared accordingly to be prepared for the worst case scenario. This also includes the players and staff of the Florida Panthers.
George Richards of the Miami Herald has stated that roughly 80 people including Vincent Trocheck, Aleksander Barkov, Roberto Luongo and Derek MacKenzie have all taken the flight from Fort Lauderdale to Boston. The organization have reserved a plane to shuttle players, staff members and their families all the way to Boston in hope of safety. Younger players who have made their way down to Florida in attendance for next week’s rookie tournament, will also take the flight to Boston as well.
Staying put at the BB&T Center is CEO Matt Caldwell who had the following to say:
"“We have the facilities in Springfield and could start camp there if we had to. We hope this is just a couple days up in Massachusetts and a flight home. But we don’t know what’s going to happen, don’t know what we will sustain. We have a good mix of players going up there and they’ll have great facilities in Boston. Hopefully everything works out here and we can fly them back in a few days.”"
The rookie tournament (in Estero), which many of the youngsters were supposed to attend, found out on Wednesday that the tournament was to be cancelled.
Matthew Caldwell had a few words to say about the cancellation of the rookie tournament:
"“We had some of our younger players come in — a few of which are from Europe — and basically get stranded here with the storm coming. For many of them, this would be the first hurricane for them. Guys are very thankful to [owner Vinnie Viola] for doing this. They are all reaching out.”"
Youth hockey events at the IceDen in Coral Springs were also cancelled by the Panthers in result of the hurricane. The team is also using the arena for a staging area to store emergency equipment.
"“I think the arena will make for a pretty good shelter. If anything were to go wrong, I think it’s good we’ll be close and ready to react. We have told Broward County we’re all in for them. Anything they need from us, they’ve got it.”"
To the players, staff and residents of Florida, my thoughts and prayers will be with you during this difficult time/circumstance. I am hopeful/confident that many or if not all, will get through this time of need.
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