The Six Nations Community Hall was filled with fans, kids, family, food and even some elected councilors to witness game 5 of the Stanley Cup playoffs on Tuesday June 13th between the Florida Panthers and the Las Vegas Golden Knights. Interest in hockey is always high during the playoffs, and especially so during this game because Six Nations own Brandon Montour was playing for the Florida Panthers.

It was an eventful evening. The Las Vegas Golden Knights led the Florida Panther’s 3 to 1 in the series, but even so, there were high hopes for a win.  The weather increased the sense of tension — just prior to the game beginning an emergency weather alert came over the phone saying there was the possibility of a tornado for the area.

At the beginning of the evening, the event happened as the organizers planned. Support for Six Nations member and Florida Panthers player Brandon Montour number 62 was evident from the red jersey’s being worn, along with the lawn sign cutouts and the larger than life cut out signs of Brandon Montour himself standing at different places in the hall.

Anticipation was in the air as the Panther’s and Knights hit the ice in Las Vegas at the T-Mobile arena. The community hall reverberated as the sound system boomed with the audio play by play and the large screen standing in front of the stage area revealed images in this do or die situation for Montour and his teammates.

There was also the smell of pizza and chicken wings supplied by the elected Council for those attending the viewing of the game along with salad, fruit and beverages. Running around the hall was councillor Greg Frazer and other staff making sure that the food and beverages were well stocked.

At the end of the first period, the Golden Knights were up 2-0 and the announcers were predicting an exciting second period. About half way through the second period, things started to unravel for the Panthers as the Knights scored two quick goals making it 4-1.The Panthers couldn’t get the puck out of their end zone and the Knights it appeared could smell blood.

A cousin of Montour's, "Bubba" stood out in the crowd as he was wearing a green jersey with Montour’s number 62 and a three leaf clover on it. Bubba had just returned from Florida after watching the last game and visiting with Montour.

The second period ended with the Golden Knights up 6 to 1, but Bubba’s faith was not waning, he said, "They can still win." However, with only 20 minutes left in the game and the series and Stanley Cup Final looking all but finished the hall was thinning out, as most people couldn’t see the Panthers rescuing the game.

But then something happened that changed everything for those at the community hall.  About  seven minutes into the period, the screen went black. The internet stopped, was it the tornado heard about earlier? Over the next five to ten minutes, fans and family waited in silence for the service to be restored, calling out “we’re missing the game!"

Bubba who was front an centre following on his phone suddenly yelled out, “it’s 7-2, the Panthers they just scored!” A few minutes later, he said, “they scored again, it’s 7-3!”

Finally, the internet was restored revealing a Panthers empty net and a desperate Panthers team trying to rally a final hurrah as the final minutes of the period ran out.

But it wasn’t over for the Golden Knights, Knights Captain Mark Stone scored a hat trick on an empty net making it 8-3, and then with less than a minute left they scored again making the final score 9 to 3 for the Knights over the Panthers.

When leaving the Hall Bubba said, "the cup is going to the Sioux Valley Dakota Nation" referring to the other Indigenous player in the series, Zach Whitecloud, who plays for the Las Vegas Golden Knights.

Listen to the entire report below.