CORAL SPRINGS, FLA. (WSVN) - This is not your typical Men’s League hockey team.
“You’re gonna sleep, eat, play hockey together. Playing hockey, it’s like going to battle together,” said Panthers Warriors goalie Brian Kopilec.
Kopilec served two tours of duty with marines in Afghanistan.
Everyone on the team is a veteran and many of them have been on the battlefields.
One of the missions with this team is healing through hockey.
Nick Butterworth, the team captain, served four years with the army in Iraq.
“This is life-saving therapy, you know, if they wouldn’t have came to this tournament or this practice, they probably would’ve ended it, you know? Every time that we have a practice and we see more people involved and the same guys coming, you really can see the change in people,” he said.
“You have a bond and a connection with those fellow veterans and servicemen and women, and it’s a form of therapy where you feel comfortable, you feel safe,” said Wayne Whitmore, Panthers Warriors forward. “You talk to these guys about any issue you might have, whether it’s work-related or at home, personal with any form of depression.”
The Panthers Warriors started in 2019.
Their goal is to raise awareness and funds for injured and disabled veterans.
“A lot of guys feel like there’s this veteran-civilian divide,” said Eric Cuneo, Panthers Warriors forward. “Just because you get out of the military doesn’t necessarily mean you stop serving and now, we just serve our communities.”
The Florida Panthers help support the team.
The franchise has honored veterans at games with their Heroes Among Us program since 2013.
Panthers president and CEO Matthew Caldwell served five years as an officer in the army.
He conducted combat operations in Iraq.
“When veterans come out of the military, I think the number one thing they miss is just camaraderie and that association with a team, that association with something that’s bigger than themselves,” Caldwell said. “A lot of times it comes back to service, working, being part of something.”
The organization’s support for the Panther Warriors and Heroes Among Us starts with team owner Vincent Viola, a former army officer who served in one of the first airborne divisions.
More than half of the Panthers executive and front office staff are veterans.
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