When the National Hockey League’s Florida Panthers take the ice for their 2013-14 season opener on Thursday night, they will do so just days after the team’s $250 million sale to a group led by New York Law School graduate and former New York Mercantile Exchange chairman Vincent Viola.

Viola, who also graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, currently serves as chairman and CEO of New York–based Virtu Financial, a high-speed electronic trading firm he founded in 2008.