Florida Panthers forward Evan Rodrigues will be keeping his own blog throughout the 2024 Stanley Cup Final against the Edmonton Oilers. He will check in regularly with behind-the-scenes access.
In his eighth entry, Rodrigues talks about the Panthers preparing for Game 7 at Amerant Bank Arena on Monday (8 p.m. ET; ABC, ESPN+, SN, TVAS, CBC), how family has helped him keep perspective and how the ride to this point has been.
This is my first Game 7 in the Stanley Cup Final. I had a couple of game 7s in previous years, but they were in the first round. It’s what you dream of, right, playing in a Game 7, Cup Final? It’s going to be an exciting one.
Once the puck drops in Game 7, it’s the same game you’ve always been playing. That’s kind of the mentality: Once you’re in the game, play it like you would any other playoff game. You give it your all. There’s nothing to save for and you have to embrace the moment.
The ride to this point has been everything and more. It’s everything you’d imagine it to be and then some. It’s been awesome coming to the rink every day with this group and just being in a good mood, enjoying every moment of it. You can’t ask for much more. You can’t ask for a better group. We have a chance of achieving our dream in a Game 7 Final and there’s not much more to it.
Sharing it with my family has made it even more special, especially with the kids, seeing the excitement they have. They’ve jumped on the ride with me a little bit but it’s also nice to come home to them and take your mind away from things and put things in perspective a little bit.
I think it’s made it a lot easier to hit the reset button when, maybe after a loss you come home, and your kids are running to you with the biggest smiles on their faces. It lets you flip that switch. Instead of overthinking about it, you put it behind you and enjoy the moments with your family. The next day you come to the rink and you’re more refreshed because you haven’t spent the whole night thinking about it. You turn the page and get ready for the next one.
The mood today was good with us, confident. It was probably one of the hardest-working practices I‘ve seen out of our group. We seemed focused. I think that’s kind of the best description I can have is, is it was a very focused practice.
Personally, I’m not going to try to control the emotions when we hit the ice for Game 7. Let it fuel you, let it build up in you, let everything that comes with it get inside of you. That’s my mentality. You can’t shy away from it. You can’t try to suppress it. Embrace every emotion that comes with the opportunity that we have coming and let it fuel you, let it motivate you. Understand the magnitude of it.
You’ve got nothing to save it for. You give it your all. There are no regrets. The one thing you don’t want to leave this game with is regrets. You put your best foot forward and if you can leave knowing that, the results will take care of themselves.
