The Panthers celebrated their first-ever Stanley Cup win with a parade on Sunday, but LIV golf star Brooks Koepka was the target of criticism from one of the team’s key defensemen — but it was a callback.
Last March, Koepka, a Panthers fan, called Florida star Aaron Ekblad a “f***ing traffic cone” during a game and held up an actual traffic cone and pointed it in Ekblad’s direction after Ekblad allowed a goal.
Ekblad never forgot, responding with a parade to celebrate the Panthers’ first championship after they overcame a 3-0 deficit to the Oilers last week to win Game 7 at home.
Warning: Adult content
“Fuck Brooks Koepka!” Ekblad yelled onstage while holding a traffic cone on his head.
After last year’s incident, Ekblad said he didn’t know who Koepka was and that the two “will never be friends.” According to Sportsnet.
Their feud has since faded, but Koepka, a Florida native who attended Florida State University, continued to root for the Panthers during their recent postseason run.
Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad. X from @David954FLA.
His wife, Jenna Sims, took a photo of a disbelieving Koepka with his hands over his head as he celebrated with other patrons at a Nashville bar after the Panthers won 2-1 in a winner-take-all match.
“Perspective: Your team finally wins,” Sims, a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model, wrote in the caption of a TikTok, which also shows Koepka standing next to a screen and pretending to hold the Stanley Cup.
And Ekblad, who was the first overall pick in the 2014 NHL Draft and has been with the Panthers ever since, played a key role in the team’s victory.
The two-time NHL All-Star in 2015 and 2016 appeared in 51 games during the regular season, scoring four goals and 18 points.
He also had six points in 24 postseason games.
