Panthers lift their championship banner, capping their Stanley Cup celebrations

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Aleksander Barkov ended last season by hoisting the Stanley Cup, as the Florida Panthers fans got to roar in delight.

And this season started the same way.

Barkov, the Panthers' captain, skated the Cup onto the ice Tuesday night moments before Florida hoisted its first championship banner to the rafters — with players all arm-in-arm as they gazed at the building's newest memento. The Panthers posed with the Cup one more time after the banner made its 2-minute trip skyward, and then, finally, it was time for a new season to begin with a season-opener against the Boston Bruins.

“Now we get to try to chase it again,” Barkov said.

They played Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final on the giant video screens over the ice before warmups, fans cheering again when Sam Reinhart scored the go-ahead goal and getting even louder when the final seconds where shown.

And then came the real ovation — when the final part of the Cup celebration came and the banner took its place in the rafters. Florida sent the fans home happy, scoring four first-period goals and beating the Bruins 6-4.

“I kind of felt like that was the closing to last season,” Florida forward Evan Rodrigues said. "It was cool to see that go up. And then we kind of flipped the page immediately and we got to our game.”

The pregame ceremony capped 3 1/2 months of reveling in the franchise's first title. Players, coaches and some staff got their championship rings on Monday in a private ceremony, then gazed skyward Tuesday when the banner was raised. Also getting replica rings: 158 season-ticket holders that the Panthers call “legacy members,” who have had tickets with the franchise since its inaugural season.

“The fans will really enjoy the banner,” said Panthers forward Carter Verhaeghe, who had the first goal of Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final to help Florida beat Edmonton 2-1 for the title on June 24. “Looking up there, I guess if you need a little inspiration, you just look up there and see what we accomplished.”

For the championship banner, the Panthers decided upon one with a white background, the words “Stanley Cup Champions” in red at the top, “2024” in red at the bottom, with the image of the Cup in the center just above the team's logo. It was hoisted over the end of the ice where Florida kept the puck pinned along the boards as the final seconds of Game 7 ran off and a championship celebration 30 years in the making got underway.

The other banners from last season — commemorating the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference titles — were already in the rafters, alongside two other conference title banners, three others for division championships and one for winning the Presidents' Trophy as the best regular-season team in 2021-22.

It was a summer filled with plenty of joy for Florida, as the Cup made its tour to the homelands of most players so it could be shared with friends and family. It all started with a parade with an estimated crowd of 300,000 braving thunder, lightning and a downpour, and the Cup made countless appearances in South Florida and beyond over the past few weeks.

As fun as it was, Panthers general manager and hockey operations president Bill Zito said it's time to pivot to a new season — something he thinks players began doing weeks ago, even before training camp started.

“I think, at least for me, I'm already there,” Zito said. “I'm just so excited for an NHL game tonight. I can tell you, I thought that yesterday before the rings. And then when I opened the box, it was one of those surreal moments. We used the word ‘speechless.’ I was speechless. And it was pretty neat to have that happen.”

The banner hoisting was preceded by the showing of a highlight video capturing the key moments from last season's run to the championship. And then Game 1 of a new season went just as Florida would have wanted.

“There was great energy in the building tonight,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said.

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The Florida Panthers raise their Stanley Cup championship banner before the start of the NHL hockey game against the Boston Bruins, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Jim Rassol)

The Florida Panthers raise their Stanley Cup championship banner before the start of the NHL hockey game against the Boston Bruins, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Jim Rassol)

The Florida Panthers raise their Stanley Cup championship banner before the start of the NHL hockey game against the Boston Bruins, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Jim Rassol)

The Florida Panthers raise their Stanley Cup championship banner before the start of the NHL hockey game against the Boston Bruins, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Jim Rassol)

Panthers lift their championship banner, capping their Stanley Cup celebrations

Panthers lift their championship banner, capping their Stanley Cup celebrations

FILE - Florida Panthers center Aleksander Barkov (16) lifts the Stanley Cup trophy after Game 7 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Final, on June 24, 2024, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress is allocating more than $100 billion in emergency aid designed to address extensive damage caused by disasters after this week's scramble to find consensus on a government spending bill.

The money comes after back-to-back hurricanes — Helene and Milton — slammed into the southeastern United States this fall, leaving havoc in their wake. But the money would go to much more than just those two storms under the bill signed Saturday by President Joe Biden that keeps the federal government funded through March 14.

The disaster funding looked set to pass earlier this week until President-elect Donald Trump issued new demands that tanked a compromise and threatened a pre-Christmas federal shutdown. A slimmed-down version cleared Congress early Saturday when Republicans abandoned Trump's core request.

Here's a look at what's in the bill for disaster relief and where the money will go:

The Federal Emergency Management Agency's disaster relief fund is essentially the country's checkbook for emergencies. Out of it, the government reimburses states and local governments for things such as removing debris accumulated after hurricanes or overtime costs for firefighters and police who work during disasters.

It also includes money for individual residents, ranging from the $750 payments that disaster survivors can get to $42,500 that some uninsured homeowners can receive to help them rebuild.

Esther Manheimer, mayor of Asheville, the largest city in the North Carolina mountains that was hard hit by Helene, said city officials were pleased to see th additional disaster dollars.

It’s only been four weeks since Asheville residents could drink from and bathe in the water coming out of their faucets. Some businesses in western North Carolina have shuttered permanently or are struggling to survive, and well over 200 roads in the region remain closed.

In a statement earlier in the week, Manheimer emphasized that it was still going to be a long recovery and that "already we see the long-term economic, budgetary and employment impact Helene left in her wake.”

The disaster relief fund was nearly running on fumes after Helene and Milton. FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell warned during a Senate hearing in November that the fund was down to $5 billion.

The Biden administration had asked Congress for about $40 billion for the relief fund but the bill eventually passed provides a lower amount, $29 billion.

It’s important to keep in mind that this isn’t the only money for the disaster relief fund, said Stan Gimont, a senior adviser for community recovery at Hagerty Consulting. He used to run the community development block grant program at the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

More money can and likely will be designated to the fund later when Congress does a full-year appropriation, he said.

There's also about $21 billion in disaster assistance to help farmers.

North Carolina Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler said earlier this week that he was pleased by the agricultural aid but that the state has a lot of specialty crops such as sweet potatoes and Christmas trees that are generally not covered by federal programs. He said he will have to wait and see what specifically ends up being covered.

“We are still evaluating the bill as there are a lot of nuances in it. The devil is in the details," he said.

Other money will go toward rebuilding damaged roads and highways ($8 billion), while more money (about $12 billion) would go toward helping communities recover through HUD grants.

The block grant money is one of the key funds for homeowners who don’t have insurance or enough insurance to recover from disasters.

There’s also $2.2 billion for low-interest loans for businesses, nonprofits and homeowners trying to rebuild after a disaster.

But the money doesn't go just toward local residents.

For example, there's money for the military to address damage from hurricanes and typhoons and for a new hurricane hunter — the planes used to research hurricanes — and funds to help NASA rebuild hurricane-damaged facilities.

No. The money goes to cover more than those two disasters.

Some of the money is specifically earmarked for certain projects such as $1.5 billion designated for assistance after the largest wildfire in New Mexico’s recorded history — the Hermit’s Peak/Calf Canyon fire — and the rebuilding of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore.

But a lot of the money also goes more generally toward major disasters that happened in recent years.

The types of disasters covered in the legislation include droughts, wildfires, hurricanes, floods, derechos, and smoke exposure.

Gimont points out that disaster recovery can take a long time so the country is both paying for disasters that happened previously while it prepares for events that will happen in the future.

Take the massive Maui fire, for instance. It decimated the Hawaiian town of Lahaina last year, but Gimont said just the cleanup itself extended into late summer 2024.

Loller reported from Nashville, Tennessee.

FILE- North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, right, and Deanne Criswell, Administrator of the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency, await the arrival of Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris for a briefing on the damage from Hurricane Helene, at Charlotte Douglas International Airport, in Charlotte, N.C., Oct. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson, File)

FILE - Michael Vierra looks at his house after it was destroyed by a wildfire, in Lahaina, Hawaii, Sept. 26, 2023. Authorities in Maui strongly encouraged homeowners to wear protective gear provided by nonprofit groups when visiting their properties to protect against asbestos, lead and other toxic remains of the wildfire. (AP Photo/Mengshin Lin, File)

FILE - Homes consumed in wildfires are seen in Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii, Aug. 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

FILE - As Hurricane Milton approaches, a car sits half-buried in sand in Bradenton Beach, Fla., in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)

FILE - This photo provided by the North Carolina Department of Transportation shows the collapsed eastbound lane of I-40 into the Pigeon River in North Carolina near the Tennessee border, Sept. 28, 2024. (N.C. Department of Transportation via AP, File)

FILE - A man walks near a flooded area near the Swannanoa river, effects from Hurricane Helene , Friday, Sept. 27, 2024, in Asheville, N.C. (AP Photo/Erik Verduzco, File)

FILE - Ben Phillips, left, and his wife Becca Phillips scrape mud out of their living room in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, in Marshall, N.C., Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson, File)

FILE - Damage from Hurricane Helene near Asheville, N.C., is seen during an aerial tour for President Joe Biden, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)