Panthers’ Sam Bennett brings Stanley Cup to humane society, home of ‘Benny’s Buddies’
When Sam Bennett was told he was going to have an hour with the Stanley Cup on Wednesday, the Florida Panthers’ forward knew exactly where he was going: The Humane Society of Broward County.
At the start of last season, Bennett and his fiancee Zoe announced a partnership with the humane society called “Benny’s Buddies.” Every time Bennett scores a goal, he sponsors the adoption a dog or cat at the humane society.
So with his efforts last season — 25 goals in the regular season, one in the 4 Nations Face-Off championship game and 15 in the Stanley Cup playoffs en route to a second consecutive championship and the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP — Bennett sponsored 41 adoptions during the season. Thirty-eight sponsored pets have been adopted.
“I’m so excited to get to bring it here and just get more attention to the humane society and hopefully get more people in here,” said Bennett, who adopted two pets from the shelter himself — a dog named Billie and a cat named Gracie — before starting “Benny’s Buddies.” “I mean, that’s really the whole goal is to get more people to come and look at adopting pets. However we can do it. If we’ve got to bring the Stanley Cup here, I think that’s a great way to do it. So, yeah, we’re really thrilled that we were able to do this.”
The event showed the softer side of Bennett. The forward is known for his physicality and aggressiveness on the ice. He plays a hard style of hockey and sometimes toes the line with the way he plays.
But put him in front of animals, and watch him melt.
“It’s two different sides of me,” Bennett said. “You have on ice intense mode, and then this is really my everyday mode is being here around animals. I love animals, and love to help out any way I can.”
So did his teammates. Bennett said his fellow Panthers were fully supportive of the cause and at times did what they could to make sure Bennett was the one scoring goals when multiple options were available.
“All throughout the year, every time I scored, they would say, ‘Oh, that was for the animals,’” Bennett said. “Or if someone gave me a backdoor tap and they would say, ‘Oh, I passed it so you could get another animal adopted.’ It’s pretty cool. All the fans are invested in it, but our team and my teammates were super invested as well. So it’s, it’s really been amazing.”
And it’s not stopping any time soon. Bennett signed an eight-year contract extension shortly after the season, which keeps him with the Panthers through the 2032-33 season if he plays out the terms of the deal.
The fundamentals of “Benny’s Buddies” will remain the same. One goal, one adoption paid for.
“We had hoped that it would grow and we would get some eyes on the humane society and and some support, but it’s really exploded,” Bennett said.
Bennett is looking for more ways to help, too. He and Zoe wore custom “Benny’s Buddies” hats on Wednesday and said he is looking into ways to sell merchandise with all proceeds going back to the humane society.
“There’s a bunch of other things that I’m sure we could do down the line,” Bennett said. “So yeah, this program is really just getting started.”
Things will be getting started up again before he knows it. Bennett and the Panthers open training camp next week, with their first preseason game on Sept. 21 and then the season opener on Oct. 7 against the Chicago Blackhawks.
“It’s all excitement,” Bennett said. “Once you’re back here with all the guys and back in our routine again, you can tell everyone’s excited for the season start again.”
This story was originally published September 10, 2025 at 2:37 PM.
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