ESTERO, Fla. — For the second time in a year, another championship banner has been raised to the rafters at Hertz Arena. Four and a half months after the Florida Everblades won the 2023 Kelly Cup, the team celebrated once again on opening night with a banner-raising ceremony on the ice.

“It was a good but short offseason, obviously,” said Everblades forward Oliver Chau. “That’s exactly how you want to end the year.”

“It’s nice to see the stadium full of fans!” said a long-time Blades fan. “We like seeing it. They play better when it’s noisy in here.”

It was very noisy in fact! The crowd went crazy when last year’s squad took the ice for the reunion and celebration.

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“It was amazing. It was so exciting with all the fireworks, the music. It was a great way to start the season,” another fan added.

“Just a lot of great memories,” said Everblades head coach Brad Ralph. “For me, a really proud moment to see all the guys on the ice just take in the moment and reliving that championship moment so yeah, it’s just a really proud and emotional moment for us.”

Seeing that blue and green banner slowly rise to the ceiling made this year’s goal set in stone even more.

“No doubt that banner raising is a moment where it becomes real for everyone that we were able to win last year and that’s certainly the goal again to do it three times in a row,” added Ralph.

“Everybody wants to be on top and luckily we were on top two straight years,” said Chau. “So we’re going to try and keep it that way.”

The Everblades are back at home on Wednesday, November 1, as they host the Orlando Solar Bears.