Hear from netminder Ryan Bednard after he signed a deal with the club for next season.
The 27-year-old joins the Panthers with an impressive career in North America already on his CV, which started with him being picked as an 18-year-old by Florida Panthers in the seventh round of the 2015 NHL Draft.
Bednard talks about using his experience in North America with the Panthers and also about his hopes for next season.
He also discusses how former Cardiff Devils coach Andrew Lord spoke highly of the Panthers and the Elite League.
NHLer Steve Lorentz brings Stanley Cup home to Waterloo Thursday
Waterloo native Steve Lorentz is bringing home the Stanley Cup.
Steven Lorentz who plays centre for the Florida Panthers, started his hockey career with the Waterloo Minor Hockey League at the age of five. He would go on to play for the Waterloo Wolves and Kitchener-Waterloo Siskins.
The Panthers defeated the Edmonton Oilers in Game 7 of the NHL final in a dramatic comeback after losing three straight games. The win gave the Panthers their first-ever Stanley Cup victory.
His former coach Bob Hergott told CBC K-W that he and the other coaches knew early on Lorentz was going places.
“We knew when he was seven years old that he was above most anyone around the city,” said Hergott.
“He was probably one of the top players in the Alliance League that we played in and he had a great outlook and a great work ethic which carried him, I think, to where he is today.”
Hergott says he coached Lorentz through hockey fundamentals up to the age of 15.
“As a coach who coached him for several years in his younger years, we don’t often get to see our players succeed to the highest levels,” said Hergott.
Steven Lorentz who plays centre for the Florida Panthers, started his hockey career with the Waterloo Minor Hockey League at the age of five. He would go on to play for the Waterloo Wolves and Kitchener-Waterloo Siskins. (Lynne Sladky/The Associated Press)
“To see Steve reach the NHL was a milestone in itself. To watch him play and see him have results on the ice was amazing.”
Hergott, who is now the director of Triple A and Double A hockey for Waterloo Minor Hockey, says over his 40 years of volunteering he has met “a lot of great young men who have grown up into great men over the years that have not made it far in hockey, but have turned their lives into something.”
The cup will be on display to the public at RIM Park, in the Forbes Room between 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Fans will have the opportunity to meet Steven Lorentz and take photos of the Stanley Cup.
A news release from the City of Waterloo says the cup will then move to” various change rooms where U16 and U18 players will be offered personal photo opportunities.”
The city says invitations to see the trophy have also been sent out to those who played with Waterloo Minor Hockey, the Waterloo Ravens, Waterloo Ringette, OSHA/Special Hockey and the KW Skating Club.
