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Florida Panthers honor Stoneman Douglas High School in emotional pregame ceremony

By Ian Oland

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February 22, 2018 11:07 pm

Thursday night, the Florida Panthers delayed the start of their game against the Washington Capitals to honor the victims of the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting. On Valentine’s Day, 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz burst into the school and killed 17 people with an AR-15 style rifle.

The game marked the first time the team had been back at BB&T Center since the tragedy. The Panthers’ 15-minute salute was beautiful and tear-inducing.

Rink tribute

Before the game, the Panthers took down the normal advertisements on their dasherboards and surrounded the rink with the Stoneman Douglas logo and the hashtag MSDSTRONG. The Panthers also super imposed the school’s logo on the ice and on the jumbotron.

Photos: @cotsonika

Stoneman Douglas hats and patches

All players from both teams wore Stoneman Douglas hats during warmups.

The Panthers also wore special patches during the game.

The Panthers goaltenders also rocked stickers on their masks.

Panthers tribute video

When the ceremony began, the Panthers played an emotional tribute video focused on the people who were tragically killed. The Panthers wrote on Twitter: “Alyssa Alhadeff. Scott Beigel. Martin Duque. Nicholas Dworet. Aaron Feis. Jaime Guttenberg. Chris Hixon. Luke Hoyer. Cara Loughran. Gina Montalto. Joaquin Oliver. Alaina Petty. Meadow Pollack. Helena Ramsay. Alex Schachter. Carmen Schentrup. Peter Wang. 17 names. Never forget.”

Randy Moller addresses crowd

The FOX Sports Florida’s television analyst spoke to the crowd and honored the victims that were lost.

“All of us are sharing a grief we all understand, yet find difficult to comprehend,” Moller said. “We are broken hearted that 17 children and teachers were robbed of their lives and hundreds of family members and friends have had their worlds shattered as well. None of us will ever see these hopeful children blossom into the contributors to the community that we could so vividly envision. As these innocent souls rest in peace, it is we that feel the anguish, the burden, and the responsibility to take positive action to ensure such brutal, senseless, violent destruction hurts no more families and steals the lives of no more children.

“As our community and nation comes to the grips with this vexing dilemma, let us please vow to work together in love, in harmony, in unity for the sake of humanity, the sake of our country, and the sake of our children both living and lost. We will remember the heroes and we will remember the bright lights gone dark. We will find strength in each other for only together can we bring change to our community that we all so desperately seek. Won’t you join together now in silent devotion as we remember those whom we lost and as we commit to unite to ensure that such tragedy befalls us no more.”

Panthers shine each victim’s name on the ice

The Panthers shined a spotlight on all 17 victims’ names on the ice before slowly dimming each during a moment of silence.

God Bless America sung

God Bless America was sang slowly by a young boy wearing a shirt that had Parkland imposed over a heart.

High school choir sings national anthem

The Cardinal Gibbons High School Choir sang the National Anthem.

Roberto Luongo addresses crowd

The full text of his speech can be read here.

Full RMNB Coverage of Caps at Panthers

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