Hurricane Milton, once a Category 5, is now a Cat 4 and will come ashore as a Cat 3 hurricane and looks to be aiming for Tampa. Tampa hasn’t taken a direct hit in over 100 years, according to my local news, but any hit in that area is going to be beyond awful as they just dealt with Hurricane Helene and this storm is massive. Tampa isn’t scheduled for a home game until Saturday, but a lot is up in the air as they brace for Milton. Hockey’s obviously one of the last things on most people’s minds and a lot of people have evacuated. Keep our HF brothers in your thoughts and prayers. The storm surge will be incredibly destructive, the area is already saturated and debris is all over after cleanup from Helene.
For the Panthers, as of this morning South Florida is out of the cone, hockey appears to still be on for tonight’s banner raising ceremony, so I guess Boston’s coming in to play and will fly right back out. Hockey today, hurricane feeder bands tomorrow.
Milton looks to be coming ashore Wednesday night into Thursday morning. Hopefully it will move quickly and won’t pause as others have done in the past, including Wilma who also formed in the Gulf in 2005. Florida will be safe and sound. Sunny skies for their game against the Senators in Ottawa Thursday night...