MIAMI — Standing on the west side of loanDepot park hours before the puck dropped on the 2026 Discover NHL Winter Classic, Florida Panthers general manager Bill Zito looked around and smiled.<\/p>\n
Not only is his team fulfilling a dream many said could never happen by playing an outdoor game in South Florida against the New York Rangers on Friday (8 p.m. ET; HBO MAX, truTV, TNT, SNW, SNO, SNE, TVAS), but Zito was surrounded by over 20 panthers.<\/p>\n
No, not Sam Reinhart<\/a> or Brad Marchand<\/a>.<\/p>\n These were life-sized panther sculptures all painted in various designs and colors.<\/p>\n And these works of art are doing good in the community.<\/p>\n “It’s hard to find the words to describe how wonderful this day is,” Zito said, the ballpark to his back. “It really is a special day.”<\/p>\n Zito and his wife Julie, who is a breast cancer survivor, created Panthers on the Prowl, a fundraising campaign to support cancer research last March.<\/p>\n Inspired by Chicago’s famous Cows on Parade, donors to Panthers on the Prowl purchased a blank life-sized panther sculpture to design in any way they chose.<\/p>\n Tennis great Martina Navratilova, for instance, dipped tennis balls in paint and fired them at her panther to create a polka-dot effect.<\/p>\n