Vitek Vanecek earns 'Van-ny!' chants from Florida fans in strong Panthers debut

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Vitek Vanecek earns 'Van-ny!' chants from Florida fans in strong Panthers debut

2025-03-09 11:05 Last Updated At：11:10

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Vitek Vanecek was traded to the Florida Panthers on Wednesday. By Saturday night, Panthers fans were already chanting his name.

Fans at Amerant Bank arena screamed “Van-ny! Van-ny!” during a strong debut by the 29-year-old goaltender, who stopped all 21 shots he faced to help the Panthers beat the Buffalo Sabres 4-0 and extend their win streak to six straight games.

“I heard it, probably twice,” Vanecek said of the chants. “That’s really beautiful. The fans are great here. I mean, it’s my first game, but I played a couple times (here) on different teams. I know they've always been great.”

The former San Jose Sharks goalie recorded his first shutout of the season and the ninth of his career on Saturday in a dominant Panthers effort. Vanecek became just the third Florida goaltender to have a shutout in his debut, joining Chris Driedger (vs. Nashville on Nov. 30, 2019) and Jose Theodore (vs. New York Islanders on Oct. 8, 2011).

“He had to make saves tonight," Panthers coach Paul Maurice said, "and tough saves. That team, they’ve got some offense, and they’re dangerous. And he earned that shutout.”

Vanecek was one of several acquisitions Florida made ahead of Friday's NHL trade deadline, as the defending Standley Cup champions gear up for a run at another cup title.

Veteran stars Brad Marchand and Seth Jones were among Florida's splashy new additions. But Vanecek — added for depth after Florida sent away goalie Spencer Knight in the trade for Jones — showed Saturday how he can be a boost behind two-time Vezina Trophy-winning starter Sergei Bobrovsky.

“He’s very efficient, very square like Sergei,” Maurice said. "I always found them to be fairly similar ... efficient, square and calm, and then fight. Fight for pucks and in the scrums and battle, so there's good compete in the net.”

Vanecek denied Buffalo's Peyton Krebs on a breakaway in the first, then made a huge sliding save against Sabres Ryan McLeod in the second. That's when Panthers fans gave him an ovation and a rowdy applause.

“Confidence builder right away for him," said Vanecek's former Sharks teammate Nico Sturm, who joined the Panthers in a separate trade this week. "You get your first win, your first game under your belt. And then it’s just all routine from here on out.”

The Sharks (17-38-9) are eighth in the Pacific Division and in a completely different situation than Florida (40-21-3) which is first in the Atlantic.

Sturm, who also made his debut on Saturday and got some action on special teams, said it felt nice to play meaningful hockey for the first time in a while.

“I haven’t won a lot of games in the last couple of years, unfortunately,” Sturm said. "And so I think for the role that I play, it means something — like it has an impact on the game. If you kill penalties and you still give up five goals in the game, it feels like your role’s a little bit irrelevant.

"But today, even though I’m not on the scoresheet, we kill big penalties, get a big block, the team wins. That’s your reward. It feels good."

Florida has recorded three shutouts in its past four games. The Panthers have only allowed one goal during that stretch — the first team to do that since the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2020-21 en route to their second consecutive Stanley Cup title.

And they've done it without one of their best players, star forward Matthew Tkachuk, who hasn’t played since the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament last month because of a lower-body injury and isn't expected to be back for at least a few weeks.

Maurice credited this impressive stretch to the Panthers' top-end veterans who have put in a lot of work with the team, but he noted those key acquisitions at the trade deadline made a big impact.

“All of the teams that are in that top three in their divisions, they all just got better,” Maurice said. “And and we did, too. For us it was specific to our needs. So we got very, very good players that came in, in the holes that we needed filled. It makes a big difference.”

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Buddhist monks and their dog captivate Americans while walking for peace

A group of Buddhist monks and their rescue dog are striding single file down country roads and highways across the South, captivating Americans nationwide and inspiring droves of locals to greet them along their route.

In their flowing saffron and ocher robes, the men are walking for peace. It's a meditative tradition more common in South Asian countries, and it's resonating now in the U.S., seemingly as a welcome respite from the conflict, trauma and politics dividing the nation.

Their journey began Oct. 26, 2025, at a Vietnamese Buddhist temple in Texas, and is scheduled to end in mid-February in Washington, D.C., where they will ask Congress to recognize Buddha’s day of birth and enlightenment as a federal holiday. Beyond promoting peace, their highest priority is connecting with people along the way.

“My hope is, when this walk ends, the people we met will continue practicing mindfulness and find peace,” said the Venerable Bhikkhu Pannakara, the group’s soft-spoken leader who is making the trek barefoot. He teaches about mindfulness, forgiveness and healing at every stop.

Preferring to sleep each night in tents pitched outdoors, the monks have been surprised to see their message transcend ideologies, drawing huge crowds into churchyards, city halls and town squares across six states. Documenting their journey on social media, they — and their dog, Aloka — have racked up millions of followers online. On Saturday, thousands thronged in Columbia, South Carolina, where the monks chanted on the steps of the State House and received a proclamation from the city's mayor, Daniel Rickenmann.

At their stop Thursday in Saluda, South Carolina, Audrie Pearce joined the crowd lining Main Street. She had driven four hours from her village of Little River, and teared up as Pannakara handed her a flower.

“There’s something traumatic and heart-wrenching happening in our country every day,” said Pearce, who describes herself as spiritual, but not religious. “I looked into their eyes and I saw peace. They’re putting their bodies through such physical torture and yet they radiate peace.”

Hailing from Theravada Buddhist monasteries across the globe, the 19 monks began their 2,300 mile (3,700 kilometer) trek at the Huong Dao Vipassana Bhavana Center in Fort Worth.

Their journey has not been without peril. On Nov. 19, as the monks were walking along U.S. Highway 90 near Dayton, Texas, their escort vehicle was hit by a distracted truck driver, injuring two monks. One of them lost his leg, reducing the group to 18.

This is Pannakara's first trek in the U.S., but he's walked across several South Asian countries, including a 112-day journey across India in 2022 where he first encountered Aloka, an Indian Pariah dog whose name means divine light in Sanskrit.

Then a stray, the dog followed him and other monks from Kolkata in eastern India all the way to the Nepal border. At one point, he fell critically ill and Pannakara scooped him up in his arms and cared for him until he recovered. Now, Aloka inspires him to keep going when he feels like giving up.

“I named him light because I want him to find the light of wisdom,” Pannakara said.

The monk's feet are now heavily bandaged because he's stepped on rocks, nails and glass along the way. His practice of mindfulness keeps him joyful despite the pain from these injuries, he said.

Still, traversing the southeast United States has presented unique challenges, and pounding pavement day after day has been brutal.

“In India, we can do shortcuts through paddy fields and farms, but we can’t do that here because there are a lot of private properties,” Pannakara said. “But what’s made it beautiful is how people have welcomed and hosted us in spite of not knowing who we are and what we believe.”

In Opelika, Alabama, the Rev. Patrick Hitchman-Craig hosted the monks on Christmas night at his United Methodist congregation.

He expected to see a small crowd, but about 1,000 people showed up, creating the feel of a block party. The monks seemed like the Magi, he said, appearing on Christ’s birthday.

“Anyone who is working for peace in the world in a way that is public and sacrificial is standing close to the heart of Jesus, whether or not they share our tradition,” said Hitchman-Craig. “I was blown away by the number of people and the diversity of who showed up.”

After their night on the church lawn, the monks arrived the next afternoon at the Collins Farm in Cusseta, Alabama. Judy Collins Allen, whose father and brother run the farm, said about 200 people came to meet the monks — the biggest gathering she’s ever witnessed there.

“There was a calm, warmth and sense of community among people who had not met each other before and that was so special,” she said.

Long Si Dong, a spokesperson for the Fort Worth temple, said the monks, when they arrive in Washington, plan to seek recognition of Vesak, the day which marks the birth and enlightenment of the Buddha, as a national holiday.

“Doing so would acknowledge Vesak as a day of reflection, compassion and unity for all people regardless of faith,” he said.

But Pannakara emphasized that their main goal is to help people achieve peace in their lives. The trek is also a separate endeavor from a $200 million campaign to build towering monuments on the temple’s 14-acre property to house the Buddha’s teachings engraved in stone, according to Dong.

The monks practice and teach Vipassana meditation, an ancient Indian technique taught by the Buddha himself as core for attaining enlightenment. It focuses on the mind-body connection — observing breath and physical sensations to understand reality, impermanence and suffering. Some of the monks, including Pannakara, walk barefoot to feel the ground directly and be present in the moment.

Pannakara has told the gathered crowds that they don't aim to convert people to Buddhism.

Brooke Schedneck, professor of religion at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee, said the tradition of a peace walk in Theravada Buddhism began in the 1990s when the Venerable Maha Ghosananda, a Cambodian monk, led marches across war-torn areas riddled with landmines to foster national healing after civil war and genocide in his country.

“These walks really inspire people and inspire faith,” Schedneck said. “The core intention is to have others watch and be inspired, not so much through words, but through how they are willing to make this sacrifice by walking and being visible.”

On Thursday, Becki Gable drove nearly 400 miles (about 640 kilometers) from Cullman, Alabama, to catch up with them in Saluda. Raised Methodist, Gable said she wanted some release from the pain of losing her daughter and parents.

“I just felt in my heart that this would help me have peace,” she said. “Maybe I could move a little bit forward in my life.”

Gable says she has already taken one of Pannakara’s teachings to heart. She’s promised herself that each morning, as soon as she awakes, she’d take a piece of paper and write five words on it, just as the monk prescribed.

“Today is my peaceful day.”

Freelance photojournalist Allison Joyce contributed to this report.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.