Panthers Center Anton Lundell joins the gang for Panthers Media Day! Anton Lundell reveals how it feels to be a Champion at 22 years old and how it wasn't guaranteed for him to make it in the league and now he's Champ! Anton talks about the Finnish connection and how it's helped him grow as a player and person. Lundell speaks of the bond and partnership he has with his teammates. We get his POV experience from hanging out with the Miami Heat recently! Lundell describes his feelings, sights and sounds from the Parade and his favorite moment from winning the Championship. Lundell talks about how hard it was to comprehend the magnitude of winning the cup at this age and how his summer transitioned from celebration to looking forward to this year.
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00:00That's a great head of hair.
00:02That's a great head of hair.
00:04Well, I'm past...
00:08I'm past the days of hair.
00:12One of the luxuries in life I do not have anymore.
00:14Wow.
00:16When you get old, your hair stops growing on your head and it grows out of your nose and your ears.
00:21Right.
00:23Anton, appreciate the time, man. How are you?
00:25I'm good. Thanks for having me, guys.
00:27Congratulations.
00:29It's not supposed to be this easy for everybody else.
00:31It's like you're grinding for years.
00:33I know you've probably been playing hockey since before you could walk.
00:35But at 22 years old, already a champion.
00:37That must feel pretty damn good.
00:39Yeah.
00:41I mean, it feels unbelievable.
00:43Everything has happened pretty fast
00:45in my last two years
00:47since I came
00:49here to Florida
00:51to try to get
00:53the NHL spot.
00:55Which I didn't even know...
00:57It wasn't
00:59like guaranteed.
01:01I was coming to the camp
01:03and I didn't know if I'm going to go back to Europe,
01:05stay here,
01:07go to the NHL.
01:09Everything has happened fast,
01:11but I'm just trying to improve every day
01:13and enjoying every day.
01:15And now you're a champ at 22.
01:17That's awesome.
01:19How cool was it
01:21to see? I saw some of the Cubs went to Finland and whatnot.
01:23What was the response there like?
01:25I saw Barkov had a day there in an arena.
01:27You guys had your own float
01:29in the parade.
01:31Was there an extra level of special
01:33to have that grouping on this team
01:35for your country?
01:37Oh yeah, for sure.
01:39Just overall,
01:41for me coming here,
01:43I didn't talk this good
01:45or I wasn't confident to even talk English
01:47when I came here.
01:49The help I've got from these guys
01:51for the last three years has been huge.
01:53To be able to share
01:55something like this with your closest friends,
01:57it was unbelievable.
02:01We've been together
02:03pretty much every day.
02:05We see each other more than guys see their families
02:07because we travel a lot,
02:09we practice a lot.
02:11It's been a really fun
02:13time to be around these guys.
02:15You guys were just at the Heat Arena, yeah?
02:17Yeah.
02:19How was that experience?
02:21They won their championships, but there's nothing like the Stanley Cup.
02:23Were they all
02:25kind of in awe when you guys brought the trophy there?
02:27Yeah.
02:29It was a very cool moment.
02:33It's a sport that's
02:35one of the biggest sports in the world.
02:37To be able to see the locker rooms
02:39and meet some of the coaches
02:41and some of the players was special.
02:43Even to see on the walls,
02:45they had unbelievable
02:47great pictures of their parades,
02:49their winning teams.
02:51Pictures of them
02:53celebrating, it was cool
02:55because there's a lot of history in that arena
02:57and in that organization.
02:59For us to be able
03:01to bring one cup,
03:03I know they have a few more over the years.
03:05There's nothing like the Stanley Cup.
03:07Everybody wants that damn cup.
03:09There's nothing like the Stanley Cup.
03:11Overall,
03:13all of the coaches and the guys,
03:15they were very interested about
03:17how we do things.
03:19They were asking us questions.
03:21It was cool to see.
03:23You go both sides.
03:25We obviously followed them,
03:27but to see that they were living with us
03:29during the playoff run,
03:31that was cool to hear.
03:33Are you as crazy for basketball as Barkov is?
03:35Barkov loves the heat.
03:37I remember the game where D. Wade
03:39knocked him in the head
03:41as he was sitting in the stands.
03:43He actually took me
03:45to a couple of the games.
03:47It's been fun to
03:49see it.
03:51We were asking
03:53Carter about this, the insane
03:55scene that was the parade.
03:57I was sitting
03:59in a safe spot. I was at a restaurant,
04:01second level, and I'm just watching the lightning
04:03crash all over the place.
04:05The rain's coming down. Everybody's just so
04:07happy and acting like maniacs.
04:09What is the thing that you immediately go to
04:11when you think about parade day?
04:13Just having a blast.
04:15No worries.
04:17Just enjoying it.
04:19A lot of
04:21people ask me what was the most fun
04:23thing
04:25about winning.
04:27I always say the first night
04:29when the families came to the locker room.
04:31We shared a moment. Everybody was so
04:33happy. Moms, dads,
04:35kids, grandfathers,
04:37grandmothers.
04:39Everybody who wanted to come
04:41was there. But the parade,
04:43same thing. We had the buses.
04:45It was really good.
04:47Organized
04:49the whole thing. There was families
04:51in the buses. We had so much
04:53fun. It rained. It didn't matter.
04:55We're not made of sugar.
04:57We went
04:59through it.
05:01Overall, it was such a
05:03fun day to be able to share with
05:05the whole city and the whole
05:07world.
05:09You take this summer now.
05:11At your age, I know you got
05:13even more big time goals
05:15for yourself.
05:17Was there
05:19a get right back to work for you?
05:21You're still
05:23early in your career. The next steps
05:25that you want to take, did you work on
05:27anything specific this summer?
05:29Or was it more just healing
05:31your body because that was a hell of
05:33a back-to-back runs that you guys had?
05:35You start to
05:37really understand how big it was
05:39to win.
05:41You kind of start to understand
05:43the longer the time goes.
05:45To see the guys like Kylog
05:47Postel have been in the league for such a long
05:49time, winning the cup,
05:51just emotions.
05:55To be honest, it's hard to
05:57put myself in his shoes.
05:59I'm still so
06:01early on, but
06:03I know it's hard to win. You won't
06:05even make the playoff every year. Hopefully
06:07we do, but to not take
06:09it as it's going to
06:11happen every year
06:13was the goal for me.
06:15The summer,
06:17you celebrate it for a while, but at some point
06:19you want to turn page.
06:21You want to get back to work. You want to
06:23improve yourself
06:25and be sure
06:27you're going to win it again.
06:29Come ready to camp and
06:31be hungrier than before.
06:33Anton Lundell, thanks for the time.
06:35We really appreciate you. Congratulations.