The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School hockey team of Parkland, Fla., just a few miles away from the Panthers home stadium in Sunrise, needed a lift to the 2018 USA Hockey High School Nationals. The Panthers provided their own team plane.
The MSD hockey team won the Florida state championship just 11 days after a tragic shooting at the school killed 17 people. An outpouring of support came from the surrounding community, including the Panthers.
The Panthers
hosted a blood drive
for those in need in the aftermath and held a practice for the team at BB&T Center, which
included an appearance by the Stanley Cup
. They also promised the MSD team their team plane for transport to nationals.
That promise came true this week.
"When we found out they made the nationals, we were sitting around trying to figure out what we could do for the team and ownership and Swift Air decided that they would donate the team plane to get them out to nationals," Panthers VP of Business Operations, Shawn Thornton said. "We're really proud of the team and how resilient they've been and how strong they've been. They're a great bunch of kids."
So, for one trip anyway, the kids travelled like the pros, complete with fully catered food on the flight.
"The smiles, the expressions on their faces were just priceless," MSD hockey team manager Bonnie Hauptman said. It really has been a beautiful moment in a very sad, sad time. It's like a once in a lifetime for these boys. They all have big hopes and dreams and this is them living it out.
And not only are they travelling like pros, they are getting to know a few.
"I always thought the players never even knew who I was and now we're on a first-name basis with some of these players, it's just amazing to me. It's like a dream come true," MSD captain Matthew Hauptman said. "I believe it's definitely bringing back positivity and slowly we're bringing back more and more positivity back to our community, which is helping, so it's just day by day, everything's coming back positively instead of negatively."
"I know our organization top to bottom is very proud of the way they carry themselves, the way they presented themselves and how strong they've been," Thornton said. "They've really done an unbelievable job and we're happy to help."
