Champion brings Stanley Cup home to Edmonton area

Josh Mahura, a defenceman who won the Stanley Cup as a member of the Florida Panthers, carries the trophy outside the Jarome Iginla Arena on July 22, 2024, in St. Albert, Alta. (Evan Klippenstein/CTV News Edmonton)

The Stanley Cup has arrived in the Edmonton area — as a defenceman who played for the Florida Panthers this past hockey season brought the trophy on Monday to his hometown of St. Albert.

Josh Mahura was greeted by a throng of cheering locals as he carried hockey's holy grail outside the Edmonton bedroom community's Jarome Iginla Arena.

The Panthers beat the Edmonton Oilers a month ago in the seven-game Cup Final to claim the National Hockey League crown.

"I don't think during the finals that they were cheering for me, but that's OK," Mahura, 26, told media on Monday.

"Just to be able to bring it back here, regardless of all that. I know when I was a kid, it would have been so special, so just to be able to do that and have some people come through and see it is just amazing."

Mahura, who's played 191 NHL games for the Anaheim Ducks — the team that drafted him in 2016 — and most recently the Panthers, signed earlier this month with the Seattle Kraken.

He played minor hockey growing up in St. Albert and suited up in junior with the WHL's Red Deer Rebels and Regina Pats before going pro in 2018.

"I grew up playing in this rink, so to be able to bring it back is just pretty surreal," Mahura said, adding that the passion for hockey in the region makes bringing the Cup home that much more memorable.

"You see it at any level, the hockey community in the Edmonton area. It starts from a young age. I think just growing up in that kind of atmosphere just makes it so much more special."