WILKES-BARRE, Pa. — A freshly shaven Teddy Richards chatted via Zoom from his home in Florida... the playoff beard gone less than 24 hours after the Florida Panthers beat the Edmonton Oilers for the Stanley Cup Championship. The Wilkes-Barre native has been with the team for the past eight years as the head equipment manager.
Richards recalls how exciting it was to win the team's first championship on home ice.
"30 years of disappointment is a lot of years and not even really making the playoffs most of those years, so to make the finals last year and not to win last year, but to come back for the fans and just the people that work in the arena it's something special. Everyone had a part of this victory," said Richards.
The Panthers started the series strong, winning the first three straight. The Oilers won the next three, forcing that Game 7 in Florida. After the rollercoaster of emotions, Richards describing just how the team felt before that puck dropped.
"The atmosphere in the locker room was so positive. It's the Super Bowl of hockey. And we have one game, it doesn't matter if we won three, lost three, it's just one game," Richards said.
Teddy started his career with the Wilkes Barre Scranton Penguins from 2002 to 2013, then 3 seasons with the Pittsburgh Penguins, where he won his first Stanley Cup championship in 2016.
"I did appreciate it. But I didn't know what I had given to me at that point, then to leave the organization to have some really tough years, go through that and then to be able to achieve it with the second organization is something I'm very, very proud of."
Richards still recalls and appreciates where his career in hockey all started with the Wilkes Barre Scranton Penguins.
"We still have a big chain text with some coaches and staff and just part of it. We still keep in contact that speaks volumes that not only do we work together, but we're friends off the ice very, very grateful of the people in Wilkes Barre that were part of my careers."