Benny’s Buddies spend time with the Stanley Cup

FORT LAUDERDALE – Does it get much better than pets and the Stanley Cup?

On Wednesday, Florida Panthers forward Sam Bennett stopped by Humane Society of Broward County with the Stanley Cup to talk about Benny’s Buddies and interact with some of the available cats and dogs.

“I’m so excited to get to bring it here and just get more attention to the humane society and more eyes and hopefully get more people in here,” said Bennett.

Launched in Oct. 2024, Benny’s Buddies helps fund the adoption fee of pets at the Humane Society of Broward County. For every goal Bennett scores, he will cover the adoption fee of a pet at the shelter.

An important cause for the family, Bennett’s wife, Zoe, also volunteers at Humane Society of Broward County.

A big year for both Bennett and Benny’s Buddies, the center’s 40 goals - 25 in the regular season and 15 in the playoffs - have led to the adoption of 38 pets so far.

“The goal is to beat that this year,” said Bennett. “I don’t know if I can, but I’ll do everything in my power to make that happen.”

Quickly embraced by the fans, the program has brought excitement with every goal scored.

“We had hoped that it would grow, and we would get some eyes on the humane society and some support, but it really exploded and the amount of people that ask them to help,” said Bennett. “I just had a couple of these hats made for myself and my wife and then everyone was asking for merch, so hopefully sometime this year we can release some merch and obviously have the proceeds go to the humane society.”

Not just the fans who have become invested, Bennett’s teammates have been thinking about the animals while on the ice as well.

"My teammates, all throughout the year, would say every time I scored, 'That was for the animals,'" said Bennett. “If someone gave me a backdoor tap in, they would say, ‘I passed it to you so you could get another animal and adopt it.’ It’s pretty cool all the fans are invested in it and our team and teammates were super invested as well. It’s really been amazing.”

With training camp just around the corner and the regular season on the horizon, Bennett is ready to get back to covering pet adoption fees.

“It’s all excitement,” said Bennett. “Once you’re back here with all the guys and back in our routine again, you can tell everyone’s excited for the season to start again. Everyone’s looking forward to it.”

For more on Benny’s Buddies, click here.