For years, we’ve heard about how hockey players in the NHL’s sunbelt markets can go about their business in relative anonymity — not like the scrutiny they receive in the Canadian hotbeds.
According to Matthew Tkachuk, that’s changing in South Florida.
“Our practices and pre-game skates are packed with fans, so the interest in hockey right now in South Florida is extremely high,” said the Florida Panthers’ buzzsaw.
“It reminds me of Calgary that way to be honest — with the amount of people that are into it, and getting recognized in public, and just kind of everything. It’s such a great place to play. It’s got to be the best place in the league to play, and I’m super lucky to be down here.”
In recent years, the Panthers have become one of the most successful organizations in the league — with a Presidents’ Trophy win in 2022, a trip to the Stanley Cup final one year later and now an Atlantic Division title that sets up a first-round matchup with their cross-state rivals from Tampa Bay.
The Florida Panthers are 2023-24 Atlantic Division Champions!
How they did it and what it means.#TimeToHunt story @TheHockeyNews ⬇️ https://t.co/ah5gHMQyrh
— David Dwork (@DavidDwork) April 17, 2024
Tkachuk arrived as part of a blockbuster trade two summers ago and has quickly become a face of the franchise — leading the Panthers in regular-season and playoff scoring in his first year and being at the center of the action alongside his brother Brady when the Panthers hosted the 2023 All-Star Game.
Now, Tkachuk has been selected as one of three celebrity judges for Great Clips’ second ‘Show Your Flow’ contest, which runs through May 5.
Fans can post a photo or video that best showcases their unique hockey hair on social media, including the hashtags #ShowYourFlow and #Contest. The field will then be narrowed down to 12 finalists by a panel of judges including Tkachuk, William Karlsson of the Vegas Golden Knights and women’s hockey legend Hilary Knight.
After that, fans can vote daily at GreatClips.com/HockeyHair to determine this year’s six inductees into the Hockey Hair Hall of Fame. Along with the notoriety of being featured on Great Clips’ social channels, winners will also receive a prize pack including tickets to an upcoming NHL game, signed swag from Tkachuk and Karlsson and free haircuts for a year from Great Clips.
“I’m really looking forward to seeing people post, on social, their pictures or videos of their hair,” Tkachuk said. “I think it’s super cool and fun to see people get really into it. Especially come playoff time, you’re seeing that not only fans, but players kind of change up their hair a little bit and have fun with it.”
Calling his own look “the little fake mullet,” Tkachuk pays respect to his fellow judge, Karlsson, for “more old-school hockey hair.” But when it comes to his all-time favorites, he thinks back to the era of his father, Keith Tkachuk.
“Growing up watching my dad in the early 2000s — nobody was wearing a helmet in warmup, so you can see everybody just flying around and hair going everywhere,” he recalled. “You see the pictures of Wayne Gretzky skating around or Mike Modano flying around like that.
“I’d say the vintage Wayne Gretzky is probably like the epitome of it, at the top of the chain.”
After a do-or-die push just to get into the playoffs last year, Tkachuk’s Panthers were understandably gassed when they tried to reach the top of the chain in the Stanley Cup final against Vegas.
“I think the road that we took was one of the hardest in NHL history,” he said.
They still closed out this year with four straight wins but have been comfortably in playoff position virtually from wire to wire and can build off lessons from 2023.
“The guys have some really good experience to lean on from last year,” he said. “So we’re just excited for another kick at it. We’ve been waiting for playoffs to start ever since playing in Vegas last year. So now that we’re here, it’s a very exciting time.”
This season, average attendance at Amerant Bank Arena has spiked to well over 18,000 fans a game — a massive increase from the pre-pandemic years, according to hockeydb.com. And in December, the team opened the dual-rink Baptist Health IcePlex in Fort Lauderdale — close to the home bases of many of the team’s players — and fans.
“It’s the nicest facility I’ve ever seen, and I’ve been lucky to see a lot of really good ones,” Tkachuk said. “We’re super lucky that Bill Zito and ownership put a lot of thought into this and are giving us all the tools here.
“It’s open to the public, so there’s tons of fans each and every day there, and it’s just good to see how excited everybody is for it.”
While William Nylander has famously embraced the Toronto subway to travel to games, the Panthers’ new players’ parking lot has taken on its own unique flavor.
“You’ve got your eBikes or golf carts,” Tkachuk said. “People walk in.”
Another unique trait of a new hockey ‘hotbed.’
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News Summary:
- Matthew Tkachuk Says Florida 'Reminds Me of Calgary' With Playoff Buzz in the Air
- Check all news and articles from the latest NHL updates.