Things to do in South Florida leading up to the NHL All-Star Game (Want a photo with the Stanley Cup?)
The NHL’s biggest stars will be congregating in South Florida this week as FLA Live Arena hosts the league’s All-Star Game at 3 p.m. on Saturday.
But before the puck drops in Sunrise on Saturday afternoon, the league is hosting several events for fans in the area.
Here are some events the league is hosting around South Florida leading up to the game:
Tuesday
City of Sunrise & Florida Panthers Hockey Festival, 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.
The Florida Panthers and Sunrise are hosting a festival at Flamingo Park starting at 5:30 p.m. The festival will have live music, food trucks, photo opportunities (including a chance to take a photo with the Stanley Cup), games and more.
Admission to the festival is free. Parking is available at FLA Live Arena and a free shuttle will provide transportation to and from Flamingo Park.
Wednesday
Coral Springs Hockey Festival, 5 p.m.
The party moves north to Coral Springs on Wednesday evening. The festival, hosted at Panthers IceDen (3299 Sportsplex Dr., Coral Springs), will have food trucks, appearances, games and more. Admission to the festival is free.
Thursday
2023 Truly Hard Seltzer NHL All-Star Beach Festival, 12 p.m. to 8 p.m.
The NHL hosts the first day of its three-day festival at Fort Lauderdale Beach Park (1100 Seabreeze Blvd. Fort Lauderdale) starting at noon. The festival is free and non-ticketed.
The festival will include multiple events and attractions, as well as games, the NHL’s United by Hockey Mobile Museum, appearances from current NHL All-Stars and NHL alumni, trophy and memorabilia displays and a photo opportunity with the Stanley Cup.
On Friday and Saturday, the festival hours are from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
EA SPORTS NHL 23 All-Star Open Final, 12 to 5:30 p.m.
One of the events at the beach festival will be the inaugural esports All-Star Open Final, which will feature top NHL gamers and hockey superstars. Alex Carpenter, Emily Clark, Hilary Knight and NHL 23 cover athlete Sarah Nurse will compete, followed by matches with the four finalists to determine the EA Sports NHL 23 All-Star champion.
The event will also have stations where fans can play NHL 23.
Friday
NHL All-Star Skills Challenge, 7 p.m.
The All-Star Skills Challenge at FLA Live Arena in Sunrise will feature multiple events this year to find out who is the fastest skater, who has the hardest shot, who can score on a breakaway challenge and who is the most accurate shooter.
This year, three events are added to the itinerary: the NHL Splash Shot, the NHL Pitch ‘n Puck and the NHL Tendy Tandem.
In the Splash Shot event, eight players will be divided into four teams of two and try to hit targets and attempt to dunk their opponents with the winner being the one to dunk his or her opponents first. The event will be hosted on Fort Lauderdale beach.
At the Pitch ‘n Puck event, six players will take to a golf course to try to sink a shot as quickly as possible.
In the Tendy Tandem event, eight goalies will work in tandems, with one shooting and the other in net. The shooting goalie will shoot from a designated mark and be awarded three points if the shot goes in the hole. He will get two points if it hits the in-net target and zero if it misses the net.
Five women’s hockey players: Alex Carpenter and Hilary Knight, Emily Clark, Rebecca Johnston and Sarah Nurse, will also participate. Former Panthers goalie Roberto Luongo will also participate as a celebrity goalie in the breakaway challenge.
Tickets are available through Ticketmaster.com.
Saturday
Honda NHL All-Star Game, 3 p.m.
A celebration of the top NHL players squaring off at FLA Live Arena in Sunrise, featuring Florida Panthers players Matthew Tkachuk and Aleksander Barkov.
Tickets are available through Ticketmaster.com, and the game will be broadcast on ABC.
