The Brad Blizzard: Panthers star’s love for desserts reaches a new level

For one day only: The Brad Blizzard, available at Dairy Queen.

The snack story of the Stanley Cup playoffs — did Brad Marchand eat a Blizzard between periods of a playoff game or not? — reached its celebratory peak Friday. A Dairy Queen in Sunrise, Florida, where the Panthers play their home games, renamed the treat for the day in honor of the now two-time Stanley Cup winner.

The Brad Blizzard was one of his favorites: the chocolate chip cookie dough flavor, though on Friday, the primary ingredient wasn’t called chocolate chips but rather chocolate “chirps” — a nod to the verbal jabs that hockey players give one another on the ice.

“I love seeing the excitement from everyone,” Marchand said while “working” at the DQ for a little while, actually making the treats and handing them out to customers both inside the store and at the drive-thru window. “These are moments that you love to appreciate.”

Marchand was not having a Blizzard between periods of that game in the Eastern Conference final against Carolina — it was honey, but cameras captured Marchand enjoying something off a spoon and the story just took off from there — but Blizzardmania was born. Marchand and several of his teammates went to DQ on off days for the treats, including on the night before ending the Stanley Cup Final against Edmonton in Game 6.

Marchand said they went before Game 6 for good luck. The Panthers won 5-1 a day later to take the Cup.

“It’s incredible the moments that you look back on and at the time you don’t really appreciate what they could mean at the end of the day,” Marchand told reporters Friday. “The first time we kind of went as a group to Dairy Queen, we were just going for a walk. We wanted to walk off our dinner and have Dairy Queen for dessert and it became this huge organic moment in the playoffs. … Those are the things you look back on and you have fun with.”

It has been a nonstop party for the Panthers since winning the Cup, with trips to the famed Elbo Room bar to interact with fans, a team dinner at a Miami restaurant on Thursday night — one where tennis great Martina Navratilova, who just happened to be having dinner in the same spot, got to sip from the Cup — and a slew of other appearances.

Marchand had 10 goals and 10 assists in the playoff run for the Panthers, who won the Cup for the second straight season. He was acquired at the trade deadline by Florida general manager and hockey operations president Bill Zito from rival Boston, and the tale of how Marchand — who was far from a fan favorite in Florida before the trade — became beloved by Panthers fans was one of the compelling stories of the postseason.

Marchand and the Panthers will have their championship parade on Fort Lauderdale Beach on Sunday, and then free agency starts July 1. Marchand is a free agent, though he has indicated a willingness to remain in Florida and had a message for the Panthers during his DQ shift.

“Give me a contract,” he said.

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AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl