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The Florida Panthers are Stanley Cup Champions
Ben Remis
June 18, 2025
Good Morning! You can find the official Remix one-year anniversary celebration at the end of today’s issue– I hope you take a moment ot read it. But there was a pretty big event last night, so let’s get to what happened in the world of sports on Tuesday, June 17.
STANLEY CUP FINALS
Game six was deja vu all over again as the Florida Panthers dominated the Edmonton Oilers and won the Stanley Cup for the second year in a row! The home team led 3-0 after two and half periods before running up the score with empty net goals. But much like the rest of the series, the defending champs were in control. From their stars at the top to their standout goalie to their depth on the fourth line, Florida is the most complete team in the National Hockey League. A few thoughts as the 2024-25 NHL season comes to an end:
How about Sam Reinhart? He scored four goals in the clincher last night, including this absolute beauty to get things started.
But it was another Sam who was honored with the Conn Smythe award for Most Valuable Player in the playoffs. That would be Sam Bennett, who led all scorers the past month with 15 goals. Bennett is the first Conn Smythe winner to immediately become a free agent, too. I have a feeling he’ll have plenty of suitors.
Florida is the 10th back-to-back champ since 1970. The last two teams to accomplish the feat were Sidney Crosby’s Penguins in 2016-17 and the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2020-21. “We’ve got to be a dynasty now," said Matthew Tkachuk, “Three years in a row finals, two championships. This is a special group.”
As much jubilation as Florida feels, we have to talk about the Oilers. Connor McDavid is the best hockey player in the world, but he was practically shut down in this final round by the Panthers blanketing defense. His Edmonton teammates are good, but you could see the difference between the Oilers and the champs– especially in goal. Oddsmakers have the Oilers as a favorite to get back to this stage next season, but I can’t imagine the feeling of getting this close and losing two years in a row. Canada’s Stanley Cup drought continues…
If you’re curious, here’s a link to our NHL Power Rankings from the beginning of the season. Not to brag or anything, but I did pretty, pretty well.
MLB
What a wild night in Major League Baseball! Let’s see how many games we get to this morning:
"I'm here to play wherever they want me to play,” said new San Francisco third baseman/ potential first baseman/DH Rafael Devers during yesterday’s introductory press conference. The Giants lost 3-2 to the Guardians last night, but Devers was greeted with a standing ovation and drove in a run with an RBI double. You gotta love the drama.
Say what you want about the Rockies, but they’re kinda entertaining. Colorado tied a franchise record with seven homers yesterday, defeating the Nationals 10-6.
Meanwhile, the New York Yankees haven’t scored a run in 29 innings! They were blanked by the Angels last night 4-0.
In case you hadn’t heard, the Padres and Dodgers don’t like each other very much. Keep an eye on game three tonight, because yesterday saw three hit-by-pitches and an ejection of Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. LA beat their rivals 8-6, however, thanks to two home runs by Andy Pages.
Last but not least, the Blue Jays trailed the Diamondbacks 4-3 in the bottom of the ninth. The deficit was quickly erased by back-to-back home runs! Toronto beat Arizona 5-4.
NOTEWORTHY NEWS
Checking in on the College World Series, as we’re down to the final four teams in Omaha. Coastal Carolina is one win away from the championship round. After a dramatic walk-off yesterday eliminated Oregon State, Louisville will have to beat the Chanticleers twice to stay alive. On the other side of the bracket, Arkansas must beat their rival LSU twice in a row to keep the Tigers from returning to the finals for the second time in three years. LSU won the whole thing back in 2023.
Get ready for some more public discourse about Caitlin Clark and officiating in the WNBA. Clark and the Indiana Fever beat the Connecticut Sun last night by 20 points, but it wasn’t without controversy. After Clark was poked in the eye and got up close with Sun guard Jacey Sheldon, Marina Mabrey checked her to the ground. That sounds harsh, but you watch the replay and tell me that’s not what happened. Naturally, Sheldon received a flagrant while both Clark and Mabrey earned technical fouls. Not a very popular decision among fans of the W…
But wait, there’s more! The physicality continued later in the game after I had already written this section. Clark’s teammate Sophie Cunningham took on the enforcer role, bearhugging/tackling Sheldon late in the fourth quarter, causing a scrum and a couple of ejections. Again, Indiana won this game by a lot– unfortunately, that’s not the story "It’s a league-wide issue. Bad officiating is bad officiating... Everyone is getting better but the officials,” said Fever coach Stephanie White after the game.
The always outspoken Nick Castellanos was benched before yesterday’s Phillies game for what Philly manager Rob Thomson called “an inappropriate comment.” The decision ended Castellanos’ consecutive games played streak at 236.
TODAY’S BIG CELEBRATION
There aren’t any big games today, but it’s still a very special occasion!
One year ago today, the first Remix was emailed out to each of our new subscribers on a platform called beehiiv. Each of the two recipients– I had to test it out first to make sure it all worked– read that first issue, and away we went! Two weeks later on July 1st, we had already reached 50 subscribers. I didn’t know how long this would go on or if anyone would care I was writing it, but the journey had begun and there was no turning back.
Today, the Remix goes out to 149 people each morning. Even with work and big holidays and some pretty late nights traveling, we haven’t missed a single day. Safe to say I’m incredibly proud of this little publication and what’s it become. It’s still a joy for me each night to comb through box scores of games I missed and share the little tidbits from the sports world that I find the most interesting. The fact that so many of you want to read them is an added bonus, and one that I will never take for granted.
That brings me to this final point, the most important part of this celebration– all of you. I don’t do very much marketing, which means practically all of the new readers sign up for The Remix because one of you told them. It’s hard enough to show my appreciation for each of you who read this, but for those of you who enjoy the Remix enough to tell others? Wow. Thank you.
If you have any favorite moments, things you want to see in the future, or just general thoughts about anything sports related, don’t hesitate to reply to an email or leave a comment on the website. Seriously, send in some feedback! I know it sounds cheesy, but this is your newsletter as much as it is mine.
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