A Ring camera video of the Florida Panthers, including captain Aleksander Barkov (L) walking around Barkov's neighborhood early in the morning with the Stanley Cup. A Ring camera video of the Florida Panthers, including captain Aleksander Barkov (L) walking around Barkov’s neighborhood early in the morning with the Stanley Cup. (Roger Rojas on X.)

There have been many remarkable celebratory moments with the Stanley Cup since it was first presented in 1893. Those include taking it to strip clubs, tossing or drop-kicking it into canals or pools, and even baptizing children in it. But few of those moments have received quick video reinforcement the way Florida Panthers’ captain Aleksander Barkov’s 5 a.m. journey with the Cup did this week.

Following the Panthers’ series-clinching 5-1 victory over the Edmonton Oilers in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final Tuesday night, the team understandably went on to celebrate. That celebration produced plenty of notable moments (including damage to the trophy), which got some discussion Wednesday.

One element there saw talk of Barkov (who became only the second player in NHL history to twice win the Stanley Cup and the Selke Trophy as the league’s best defensive forward in the same season, following Bob Gainey) and teammates walking around to houses in his neighborhood at 5 a.m. with the trophy. And Panthers’ general manager Bill Zito Jr. reinforced that in an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show on ESPN Wednesday, which McAfee posted to X:

Amazingly, that led to viewer Roger Rojas responding with their Ring doorbell video confirming this:

That’s a fun thing for these players to do, and hopefully the viewer did indeed make it out to see the Cup before the players moved on. (And this won’t be the only way Barkov, who also won this year’s King Clancy Trophy as “the player who best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and has made a noteworthy humanitarian contribution in his community,” celebrates with his community: he’s already vowed to again take the Cup to a local children’s hospital.) But the more remarkable element here may be the way this got confirmed.

The story was believable in the first place, especially with it coming from a team executive like Zito. But the GM did say he was getting that secondhand, and many of the Stanley Cup sagas over the years haven’t had substantial eyewitness confirmation. (Some have, though, even from Mafia informants.) A viewer of McAfee’s clip here responding with literal door camera video to prove it is pretty amazing.

About Andrew Bucholtz

Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.