Panthers' Aleksander Barkov becomes the first Stanley Cup-winning captain from Finland

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — A Finnish flag waved prominently in the stands as the Florida Panthers celebrated with the Stanley Cup. Aleksander Barkov held his 2-year-old child in his arms minutes after getting the trophy from Commissioner Gary Bettman.

The first championship in franchise history was made possible by a handful of Finns, none more effective than Barkov, who became the first captain from his country to be presented and then hoist the Cup.

“I was young when I came here, so I never thought I could celebrate someday with my kid,” Barkov said. “Unreal feeling.”

Asked during the series about being the first Finnish Stanley Cup-winning captain, the 28-year-old responded: “I don’t know what it would mean for the country. It would mean a lot for me.”

Barkov led the way with a dominant two-way postseason, tying for the team lead with 22 points in 24 games and defensively shutting down star opponents throughout the run, from Boston's David Pastrnak to New York's Artemi Panarin and eventually Edmonton's Connor McDavid, who had no points in Games 6 and 7 of the final.

“It starts with Barkov and filters down,” coach Paul Maurice said.

Barkov led a team full of Canadians, Swedes, Russians, Americans — and was one of four Finns in the lineup for the Cup clincher, along with forwards Anton Lundell and Eetu Luostarinen and defenseman Niko Mikkola. One of Maurice's assistants, former player Tuomo Ruutu, is also Finnish.

Maurice said Ruutu is “harder on those guys than the rest.” Barkov is the guy Lundell, 22, and Luostarinen, 25, idolize.

“Everybody who grows up playing hockey in Finland, they look up to guys here, and Sasha’s one guy we all want to be one day,” Lundell said. “You grow up watching his highlights. You go to practice, you want to do (drills) the same way he does them. We all have idols, but I have to say, I think he’s the biggest idol in Finland.”

Mom Olga Barkova, still could not believe it in the aftermath of the Game 7 win.

“It’s been really exciting for the whole family,” she said. “We support each other. So happy this was the last game and they won. Maybe I understand this tomorrow when I see all the pictures.”

Barkov's picture-perfect postseason came on the heels of earning Selke Trophy honors as the best defensive forward in the NHL.

Veteran Kyle Okposo, who joined Florida at the trade deadline, admired him as an opponent for just how suffocating he is defensively and compared Barkov to six-time Selke winner Patrice Bergeron.

“Just the way that he thinks about the game, you don’t see many players that have that (who) are so talented offensively,” Okposo said. “When (Bergeron) hung up his skates in Boston, he was the other guy that never cheated the game. That’s not something that a lot of special offensive players have in their game.”

One play in Game 3 crystallized how much of an impact Barkov can have. He forced Oilers defenseman Evan Bouchard to lose the puck, outworked him to get it and set up Florida's goal that silenced the raucous crowd in Edmonton.

“Doesn’t try to make a skilled play, just takes it up the wall, fends him off, turns up, finds a late guy and ends up in the back of the net,” forward Evan Rodrigues said. “Simple playoff hockey and he’s (done) a great job for us all playoffs long.”

While McDavid won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP, Barkov was second after carrying the Panthers through the Lightning, Bruins, Rangers and Oilers. He was one of only a few homegrown players on Florida's roster.

“He’s our leader,” forward Sam Bennett said. “He plays the game the right way. It’s pretty special to see a guy so committed, as gifted as he is offensively, he’s so committed to playing defense and shutting guys down, blocking shots. When you have your All-Star captain playing that way, it carries on to every single guy in the locker room."

Barkov is just the fifth European captain to hoist the Cup after Nicklas Lidstrom with Detroit in 2008, Zdeno Chara with Boston in 2011, Alex Ovechkin with Washington in 2018 and Gabriel Landeskog with Colorado in 2022.

An incorrect photo that previously was linked to this story has been removed.

AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHL

Florida Panthers forward Aleksander Barkov (16) hoists the NHL hockey Stanley Cup in front of fans after defeating the Edmonton Oilers in Sunrise, Fla., Monday, June 24, 2024. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)

Florida Panthers forward Aleksander Barkov hoists the NHL hockey Stanley Cup after defeating the Edmonton Oilers in Sunrise, Fla., Monday, June 24, 2024. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)

Florida Panthers forward Aleksander Barkov hoists the NHL hockey Stanley Cup after defeating the Edmonton Oilers in Sunrise, Fla., Monday, June 24, 2024. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, left, presents Florida Panthers forward Aleksander Barkov (16) with the NHL hockey Stanley Cup after winning the Final against the Edmonton Oilers in Sunrise, Fla., Monday, June 24, 2024. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)

Florida Panthers team captain Aleksander Barkov (16) raises the Stanley Cup trophy after defeating the Edmonton Oilers in Game 7 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Final, Monday, June 24, 2024, in Sunrise, Fla. The Panthers defeated the Oilers 2-1. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Florida Panthers center Aleksander Barkov (16) receives the Stanley Cup trophy from NHL commissioner Gary Bettman after Game 7 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Final, Monday, June 24, 2024, in Sunrise, Fla. The Panthers defeated the Oilers 2-1 to win the Stanley Cup. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Florida Panthers center Aleksander Barkov hoists the Stanley Cup after the Panthers beat the Edmonton Oilers in Game 7 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals, Monday, June 24, 2024, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

Florida Panthers center Aleksander Barkov hoists the Stanley Cup after the Panthers beat the Edmonton Oilers in Game 7 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals, Monday, June 24, 2024, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, left, presents the Stanley Cup to Florida Panthers center Aleksander Barkov after the Panthers beat the Edmonton Oilers in Game 7 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals, Monday, June 24, 2024, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

Florida Panthers center Aleksander Barkov (16) lifts the Stanley Cup trophy after Game 7 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Final, Monday, June 24, 2024, in Sunrise, Fla. The Panthers defeated the Oilers 2-1. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Florida Panthers center Aleksander Barkov lifts the Stanley Cup trophy after Game 7 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Final against the Edmonton Oilers, Monday, June 24, 2024, in Sunrise, Fla. The Panthers defeated the Oilers 2-1. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

KAPALUA, Hawaii (AP) — The cream-colored envelope arrived at the Puerto Rico home of Rafael Campos on Dec. 23, and there was no mistaking who it was from — Augusta National — or what it contained. That's why he waited a few days to open it and find his invitation to the Masters.

“I wanted that to be my Christmas present,” Campos said. “And it was surreal. Just trying to understand, ‘This is really happening, right?’ And it was so cool.”

Six weeks after the 36-year-old Campos delivered one of those feel-good moments in golf by winning the Bermuda Championship, he still has a hard time fathoming what happened.

He feared he would have to miss the Bermuda Championship because his wife was due with their first child. He brought their daughter home and arrived in Bermuda some two hours before his tee time. And then he won.

No wonder he can't stop smiling.

“At least one night of the week for the last month-and-a-half, my wife have made a statement like, ‘It really happened,’” Campos said.

But for how much longer?

The PGA Tour has a long history of such moments, and they might happen a lot less often under the new structure for 2026. Only the top 100 players — down from 125 — keep full cards. Field sizes are shrinking. Monday qualifying spots are being reduced. This is more cut throat.

Campos remembers when he first heard rumblings of this new system.

“In the back of my mind I was like, ‘Man, it’s going to be even harder for us now,’” he said. “I’m not a fan of it. I understand why they’re doing it, like cutting time so everyone can finish, and supposedly it’s for the sponsors. Then again, you’re taking away jobs from us. And it’s not easy. There’s so many thousands and thousands of unbelievable golfers that deserve to be there.”

The out-of-nowhere victory — the first by a Puerto Rican since the beloved Chi Chi Rodriguez, who had died three months earlier — is what brought Campos to Maui for the start of a PGA Tour season that he figured would not include him.

It gave him job security for two years, something he has never had, and a chance to plan a schedule instead of hoping tournaments had room for him. And yes, he's going to the Masters.

None of this seemed remotely possible for so much of the year.

Campos learned his wife, Stephanie, was pregnant in the spring and all he could think about was making sure he could provide for them. And then he started missing cuts, three in a row, then nine in a row. He was running out of time, and so was his wife.

Her due date was the Sunday of the Bermuda Championship, the penultimate tournament of the season. Campos was No. 147 in the FedEx Cup, and even if he stayed in the top 150, chances to play were going to be severely limited in 2025.

He couldn't afford to miss Bermuda.

“I've always had a backup plan,” said Campos, who turned pro after playing at Virginia Commonwealth and who had managed only one previous season in the big leagues. “This was the first time — honestly, things were going extremely bad — I did not have a fallback plan. It was tough on my mind knowing that, ‘Man, I worked so hard for 15 years, I could lose everything and start back at square one.’”

His wife suggested they induce labor. Campos was not willing to leave Puerto Rico until he could bring his wife and child home. Their daughter, Paola, was born Monday evening and he was able to bring them home Wednesday, less than 24 hours before his tee time.

“I remember telling my wife, ‘Can I have 20 minutes with the baby, just by myself in the room?’ It was so cool just holding her,” he said.

Gone was the stress of trying to make cuts the last six months, replaced by peace and joy. And then he flew to Boston, arriving after midnight and sleeping in the airport until his connection to Bermuda in the morning. He arrived at Port Royal just under two hours from his tee time.

That's normally enough time to prepare to tee off, except Campos kept talking about the birth of his little girl. What followed the next four days is a blur.

He made the cut and then shot 62 in the third round to tie for the lead. And on Sunday, he held his nerve and pulled away with a 68 to win by three. A Golf Channel reporter approached him on the 18th green and Campos was sobbing.

“I just can't believe this is happening to me,” he said.

The $1,242,000 was more than he had won in his previous 53 starts on the PGA Tour. But this wasn't about just money. This was about being a tour winner, a lifelong dream. He didn't even realize he would be going to Kapalua, much less the Masters.

He thought back to when he was 9 and his father was invited to play golf for the first time, thinking it would take an hour or two. He dropped his kids off at the driving range. Six hours later, Campos was still hitting the little white golf ball. He was hooked.

And then in his 14th year as a pro, the week he became a father and feared losing his job, he won the Bermuda Championship.

How did that happen?

“It's funny how everybody says, ‘All it takes is one week.’ And you always believe it and all that, but you don't realize it. It's true in this sport. One week can really change your life and your family's life.”

AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

Rafael Campos, of Puerto Rico, walks to his ball on the fourth fairway during the first round of The Sentry golf event, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, at Kapalua Plantation Course in Kapalua, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Rafael Campos, of Puerto Rico, hits from the fourth fairway during the first round of The Sentry golf event, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, at Kapalua Plantation Course in Kapalua, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Matt York)