‘The Cup is here.’ Florida Panthers’ Stanley Cup celebration was 30 years in the making

They made their way to the stage soaked from the downpour that hit Fort Lauderdale Beach on the day of their celebration.

But a little rain wasn’t going to stop the Florida Panthers from celebrating the first Stanley Cup in franchise history.

And the fans certainly weren’t going to let it get in the way — not after waiting this long for this moment.

“Thirty [expletive] years,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice would eventually say on stage. “In my wildest dreams, I never would have thought I could see this.”

Maurice’s words were meant for himself, but they aptly applied to everyone who waiting out the weather to see this celebration.

This fan base waited 30 seasons for their first Cup, which they finally won on Monday with their Game 7 win over the Edmonton Oilers.

So the party raged on Sunday until the Panthers’ parade made its down A1A.

As the Panthers waited for the buses to start moving, they poured beer out of the Stanley Cup at fans on the street. Aleksander Barkov and Anton Lundell drank out of shoes. Dmitry Kulikov caught a fans phone and took a selfie.

Matthew Tkachuk made an impromptu stop at the Elbo Room — because of course he did — as the parade caravan got toward the end of its route.

Meanwhile, near the stage, thousands of fans at the beach waited in anticipation as the rain came in droves. As bolts of Lightning cracked through the late morning sky, the beach goers started a “[expletive] the Lightning” chant, a nod at both the weather and their cross-state rival they knocked out in the first round of this year’s playoffs to begin the run to the Cup.

Finally, they arrived.

A shirtless Nick Cousins chugged a beer upon his arrival, slid back and forth on the slick stage and joined the crowd up front as the rest of his teammates arrived. Anton Lundell, Aaron Ekblad and Roberto Luongo banged the drum.

“You’ve got to go off the hook for these guys,” Panthers owner Vincent Viola said. “How crazy are you going to get?”

The fans responded with a roar of applause as Viola hyped up a shirtless Ryan Lomberg, who was wearing a championship belt an ultimately found himself crowd surfing by the end of the rally.

They chanted for each person who spoke — from Viola, CEO Matt Caldwell, president of hockey operations and general manager Bill Zito, Maurice and assistant to the general manager (and Hall of Famer) Roberto Luongo to players Aaron Ekblad, Tkachuk, Aleksander Barkov and Sergei Bobrovsky.

“This is awesome. Look around. This is awesome,” Zito said to the crowd. “When people ask us about this group and what makes them special, I always use the word ‘team,’ which really is just family. And I can tell you to a person, every guy back here considers you guys family. You stayed out in the rain and supported us.”

Everyone who spoke stuck to their personality.

Tkachuk, who puffed on a cigar on stage, took a jab at Edmonton — “I heard it’s 70 degrees and sunny in Edmonton,” he said, “but they ain’t got no Cup.”

Barkov remained his humble self, saying he “would’ve never believed this day would come” when he was drafted in 2013 but thanked his teammates, ownership, management — basically everyone but himself — for the fact that they were “in front of you, all together, on a rainy day, during hurricane season, on the beach celebrating us winning the Cup!” before passing the mic to Bobrovsky.

And then Bobrovsky took a moment to get sentimental. Monday marks the five-year anniversary of him signing with the Panthers. He went through a rough first few years before returning to form the past two seasons.

“My first interview [after signing], they asked me why I came to Florida,” Bobrovsky said. “My answer was “Because I want to win the Cup and win it here.’ And now here we are, five years later, celebrating the greatest victory of this franchise.”

And if the Panthers have their way, this will be just the first of many celebrations.

“The Cup is here,” Viola said. “Let’s get it back again.”