© Florida Panthers

WESTON, Fla. — For the third consecutive year, the Florida Panthers gathered together before training camp to play a round of golf.

It was all for a good cause.

The Cats Classic Golf Tournament presented by BioStem Technologies benefited the Florida Panthers Foundation, which focuses on children’s health and education, veterans affairs, growing the sport of hockey, and raising awareness for the endangered Florida panther.

Last season, the Florida Panthers Foundation donated $1 million through grants and donations to local South Florida nonprofits that support the foundation’s four pillars.

For Florida defenseman Dmitry Kulikov , helping grow the game in South Florida through the team’s youth initiatives means something special to him.

Kulikov was a first-round draft pick by the Panthers in 2009 and played here until being traded to Buffalo in 2016. He returned as a free agent in 2023 and signed a four-year contract with the team earlier this summer.

When it came time for Kulikov’s day with the Stanley Cup, he took it to the team’s training facility in Fort Lauderdale to share it with the Jr. Panthers, who were practicing there that morning.

Kulikov’s son Max plays for the Jr. Panthers.

“As a parent, my son plays hockey, and I see how many kids here want to join the programs,” Kulikov said Monday afternoon. “I brought the Cup to our new practice rink for the Jr. Panthers. It was incredible to see how excited they were to see the Cup and how many smiles I saw that day. I cannot describe that feeling. But later, returning to the rink for practice, all the parents would come up to me and say ‘you have no idea how much this means, my kids loved it, they can’t stop talking about it.’ It hits you how much impact a winning culture we have here now reaches the kids and gets them into the game.”

All 160 spots were filled for the tournament, and each foursome featured a Florida player, coach, or front-office member.

The tournament was at the Club at Weston Hills, located a few miles south of the team’s arena in Sunrise.

John Colombo, the team’s Vice President of the Florida Panthers Foundation & Community Relations, said last year’s tournament raised about $85,000.

He expects this year’s event to increase that total by $50,000.

“This is a great way for us to kick off the season and say ‘Hey, the team is back in town,'” Colombo said. “It is also a great opportunity for us to start raising some money for the South Florida community. This is a nice way for people to get to know the players. They spend four hours on the course; We see people who the players were out with last year interacting this year, so, that’s really cool.”