If you follow sports at all in South Florida, you know the Florida Panthers hockey team just had one of their best seasons in nearly 30 years.
But as the new NHL season kicks off this month, there’s another ice hockey team you should know about — one that’s having arguably a bigger effect on South Florida culture. The Lucky Pucks.
They are an ice hockey club for women and girls of all ages based in Fort Lauderdale.
Their teams swept the state championships on every level of competition right around the time the Panthers were playing for the Stanley Cup.
The women over 40 won the national championship.
Our colleagues Sherrilyn Cabrera and Alyssa Ramos spent some time with the Lucky Pucks, at practice, in the locker room.
They got to know the players who work regular jobs by day and slash through the ice by night. It was a very South Florida locker room — with bags of mangos to give away and all.
The Lucky Pucks wouldn’t exist without one woman, their co-founder, Karen Ota-O’Brien. Her teammates call her K.O.
On the Oct. 24 episode of Sundial, Sherri and Alyssa sat down with Karen in our studio. They talked about how The Lucky Pucks have changed the lives of women athletes, from young girls to hockey moms turned hockey players who can’t live without the ice. Find more of their reporting on this story here.
On Sundial’s previous episode, we spoke with Zak Stern. He is the actual baker behind Zak the Baker in Wynwood. He's credited with starting the artisanal bread movement in Miami. He tells us why he prompted us to write poems answering: "What is Miami food?"
Listen to Sundial Monday through Thursday on WLRN, 91.3 FM, live at 1 p.m., rebroadcast at 8 p.m. Missed a show? Find every episode of Sundial on your favorite podcast app, such as Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Spotify.
