Dauphin native Myles Fee helped guide the Florida Panthers to a Stanley Cup victory, June 24, when th Panthers defeated the Edmonton Oilers, 2-1 to capture first title in franchise history.

Heading into the series, Fee said the team was confident.

“I think the confidence level was always high. You get to that point in the season and you’re the last two of 32, so you’ve got to believe in yourself, or you shouldn’t be there. But we were feeling good about ourselves, no matter what the situation,” he said.

After the Panthers won the first three games of the best-of-seven series, the confidence level was at an alltime high.

“It’s impossible to put into words when one more game and that’s your victory. So confidence was high, hopes were high, expectations were high. Sometimes it works for you and sometimes it doesn’t,” Fee said.

“It’s another four games to figure it out.”

Losing always hurts, Fee said, especially in the playoffs. But after the Oilers came back to tie the series to force a game seven, the confidence level never wavered for Florida.

“It doesn’t hurt your confidence. At some point it turns to anger and motivation, especially when you get to see them the next night or two nights down the road. Everything is attainable and you just get more focused and more driven as the games go on,” he said.

The game seven victory, Fee said, was just a matter of will. The hardest game in the world to win is game four, he said.

“And we had three of those to play. But I think the pressure finally shifted back to an open playoffs type format rather than a pressure-filled format. We just play freely. Played our game. Played with purpose and, obviously, the outcome was good for us. But it was just the freedom to play,” he said.

Read the full story in this weeks Dauphin Herald