Brooks Koepka saw his beloved Florida Panthers win the Stanley Cup for the first time, but was greeted with a brutal shout out from one player during their victory parade
Brooks Koepka laughed off a brutal dig from NHL star Aaron Ekblad, after the Florida Panthers celebrated their first ever Stanley Cup victory in front of their fans back home on Sunday.
The Panthers banked their maiden Stanley Cup crown after defeating the Edmonton Oilers last Tuesday. Koepka himself was seen enjoying the victory, as a clip of the five-time major champion watching on and celebrating with his friends was posted on social media.
Five days later the celebrations in Florida were far from over, as the Panthers turned out in front of their fans in a torrential downpour by parading their trophy through the streets of Fort Lauderdale.
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During the celebrations defenceman Ekblad got hold of the microphone and had a message for LIV Golf star Koepka, all whilst wearing a traffic cone on his head. From the top of his voice, the 28-year-old cried out: “F**** you Brooks Koepka!” which was greeted with a huge cheer by those in attendance.
Koepka was quick to get wind of his call out from Ekbald, and saw the funny side by re-sharing the clip on his Instagram story with three laughing-face emojis. For context, the call-out in question centred around a previous run-in between the pair, after Koepka attended a Panthers game last March.
Holding a traffic cone in the air from the stands, Koepka was heard shouting: “You are a f****** traffic cone!” in the direction of Ekbald. Defending his taunt in the aftermath of the 4-3 loss to the New York Raiders, Koepka said at the time: “Yeah, he gave up a bad goal I think midway through the third.
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“I just felt like if they didn’t win that game they weren’t going to make the Playoffs. Dedicated fan, man.” There was clearly no love lost between the two, with Ekbald: “We’re not buddies. Never be buddies,” when quizzed about his relationship with his team’s A-list fan.
He did however reveal that the former U.S. PGA champion did reach out to him via a text to apologise, one he was happy to accept. “He did what he did, and he apologised,” Ekblad said. “Holding ill will against somebody and pulling negativity in your body is never a good thing.
“At the end of the day, it’s all just sports, right?” Ekblad said. “We all get intense sometimes. It is what it is.” In the end Koepka and Ekbald were able to have the last laugh together, with both enjoying the celebrations of the Panthers’ victory in recent days.
The Smash GC captain took to Instagram in the aftermath of Tuesday’s win, posting a picture of him celebrating rink-side along with the caption: “The Psssss are Stanley Cup Champs.”
