LATAM Cup exhibition game at Panthers home was 'fun dream' for players

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Nicholas Komanski stared at the glistening sheet of ice inside FLA Live Arena that he was about to play on and smiled in joyous disbelief.

"This must be a dream," said Komanski, a forward with Argentina's men's national hockey team. "I don't think most of us have done anything like this before, so for us it's a fun dream."
Argentina played Colombia at the Florida Panthers home arena Tuesday in an exhibition game ahead of the 2022 Amerigol LATAM Cup tournament that begins Wednesday at the Panthers practice facility in Coral Springs, Florida.
"This will probably be the best ice we've ever played on," Komanski said. "In Argentina we barely have half the size of this to play on, so this is amazing."
Colombia won 7-3, but the score was secondary to the stage on which the game occurred. Players from both teams were excited to play in an NHL arena, on NHL ice, with the Amerigol LATAM Cup logo flashing on the scoreboard overhead.
"It was amazing seeing the seats and everything, the ice and the environment," Colombia defenseman Julio Lemoyne said. "This is exciting for us, not just for the experience, but what it means for our whole community."
Panthers left wing Ryan Lomberg added to the excitement when he stopped by each locker room and delivered words of encouragement to players from each team.
"It's pretty cool," Lomberg said. "It's nice that the NHL is putting this together. Anytime that we can grow the game and people can share smiles and great times through hockey, it's a great thing. I definitely remember the times where I was big-eyed and a huge smile ear to ear when I stepped onto an NHL rink, and it's still the case to this day."

The exhibition game happened through sponsorship by the NHL, the Panthers and the NHL Players' Association of the Amerigol LATAM Cup, a five-day tournament that features 44 teams with more than 750 players representing 21 countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Venezuela.
"It's important because we're trying to show the community that we're serious about connecting more broadly than our current fan base," said Robert Knesaurek, NHL Group Vice President, Youth Development and Industry Growth. "This is a marketplace that's filled with many Latin American and Caribbean players and people who are connected to our game in some spirit. So why wouldn't we want them connected to our NHL club? This is a pool of new fans that we might not have connected with in the past."
Hockey officials from Argentina and Colombia each said the game Tuesday was a milestone that they hope resonates with government officials and private investors, whose support is needed to help develop hockey, mainly by building ice rinks suitable for the sport.
Argentina has four indoor and outdoor rinks, according to the International Ice Hockey Federation. There are no rinks in Colombia.
"Playing in this arena is another checkpoint," Argentina men's coach Jorge Dicky Haiek said. "A big checkpoint."
Photos: Eliot Schechter