Mark Lorentz 'on cloud nine' as his son enters the Stanley Cup Finals

Kitchener born and Waterloo raised Steven Lorentz is expected to play in the Stanley Cup finals for the first time in his career with the Florida Panthers on Saturday.

His father can’t wait.

"We're on cloud nine. This has been his dream since he was a little boy," Mark Lorentz, Steven Lorentz’s father said.

"There's a lot of great talent over here locally and so hopefully Stevie can get lucky and do us proud," Lorentz said.

Mark Lorentz talks to CTV News about his son making it to the 2024 Stanley Cup Finals on June 6, 2024. (Colton Wiens/CTV News)

Mark says his son always wanted to be a professional hockey player.

"We always knew Stevie was going to do one thing and that was play hockey," Lorentz said.

Steven is the second oldest of four siblings and the only son.

Mark said the family is trying to get to some of the games to witness Steven on hockey’s biggest stage.

"Certainly not the first two games. We want to go down, it's a fluid situation. We have to see how things pan out. Getting tickets is not easy," Lorentz said.

The now 6’4”, 216 pound forward spent his minor hockey career with the Waterloo Wolves. Bob Hergott, current director of AAA and AA for Waterloo Minor Hockey, coached Lorentz for three years in Waterloo and noticed his talents back then.

“It was easy to pick out when he was seven years old that he was a special player. He had great skill and his work ethic was second to none,” Hergott said. “We had a lot of success in the years that I coached them. A lot of it was driven by the fact that he was so special, and players wanted to play hard to keep up with him.”

Although Lorentz now plays in the NHL, Hergott said he still stays in contact.

“If I send him a text, he’s quick to respond to me. Always makes me feel like I meant something to him - so great kid,” Hergott said.

The farthest Lorentz has gone in the playoffs was in 2021 with Carolina, where the Hurricanes lost to Tampa Bay in the second round.

One thing to clear up is Steven’s family history. Ahead of Game 4 between New York and Florida, Ron MacLean on Sportsnet said Lorentz is the grandson of Buffalo Sabres Hall of Famer Jim Lorentz from Waterloo. Mark said there is only a distant family relationship to Jim. Steven’s grandfather was actually named Gerrard, was from St. Clements and only played a bit of recreational hockey later on in life.

Mark said Steven comes back to the Kitchener-Waterloo area every summer. He's even come close to the Stanley Cup before. Mark said out of respect for an old NHL tradition, when Scott Stevens brought the trophy to town, he made Steven wear hockey gloves so he would not touch the cup with his bare hands.

"If you touch the cup before you win it, you will never touch the cup. So he's never touched the cup. So we're hoping that this time he finally gets to touch it," Lorentz said.

Other local connections

There are two other local connections in this year’s Stanley Cup final.

Lorentz’s teammate Brandon Montour is from Six Nations of the Grand River. He made it to the finals with the Panthers last year, losing to Las Vegas in five games. Six Nations held several viewing parties during the previous Stanley Cup Finals.

Adam Henrique from Burford is in the lineup for the Edmonton Oilers. Henrique has been to the Stanley Cup Finals one time before. He was with New Jersey when they lost to the Los Angeles Kings in six games back in 2012.

A sign posted in the community of Burford reading "Home of Adam Henrique." June 3, 2024 (Shelby Knox/CTV News)

There is a sign in Burford for Henrique which shows he is from the area. It has been updated several times since it first went up. On Monday the sign still showed the Anaheim logo from when he was with the Ducks. It has since been changed to reflect that he now plays for Edmonton. The sign is managed by his uncle Tony.