It will be the closest the Stanley Cup has been to South Florida since the Florida Panthers' extremely brief NHL championship appearance in 1996: Former Panther Nathan Horton is bringing the premier trophy won this year by the Boston Bruins to Fort Lauderdale.
We know Floridians are a bit apathetic about hockey -- only 2 percent of people identified the Panthers as their favorite team in a Public Policy Polling survey earlier in the week -- but it's Lord Stanley's freakin' mug.
The Canadian Press released the cup's general schedule a couple of days ago, reporting that Horton will be the first player on the Bruins to host this year's trophy, and he's bringing it to Fort Lauderdale in "mid-July."
After Horton gets his possession of the cup, it's going to Europe, where many of his teammates are from -- including the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Finland -- before going to Canada, where most of the Bruins are from.
One of the reasons Horton may be the first to get time with the trophy may be due to the fact he was knocked out of the Stanley Cup Finals in game three after an absolutely vicious hit from Vancouver's Aaron Rome:
Although he was born in Ontario, Horton played six seasons with the Panthers and married his wife -- former Playboy model Tammy Horton -- in Fort Lauderdale in 2007.
It's not yet known the exact date when Horton gets possession of the cup, and it's not known if he's planning any sort of event to display it.
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