Tampa, Florida					Monday, September 06, 2010

Against All Odds
Sunday, June 6, 2004
TAMPA—Aside from the over-riding wonder whether the Tampa Bay Lighting could win that pivotal sixth game of the Stanley Cup Finals Saturday in the intimidating Saddledome at Calgary, these were some of the specific great concerns so important to that outcome entirely up to the Bolts: 1. Could goal tender Nikolai Khabibulan maintain his almost impenetrable Bulin Wall, the first commandment of winning any hockey game. So far, he’d been heroic through the playoff wins over the Islanders, the Canadiens, the Flyers, and the current finals foe, the Flames, now leading the last series three games to two? 2. Could the scoring marvel, Brad Richards, keep it up, his breakneck, roll on rival tenders, and if not would Fredrik Modin, Corey Stillman or Ruslan Fedotenko find more scoring schemes, for the goals so needed? 3. Would season Most Valuable Player Martin St. Louis find that MVP style before it was too late? 4. Could the Bolts keep up a key power play defensive style that had been too much for so many so far? 5. Could the Bolts keep up their torrid scoring pace on power plays when they and not the enemy had the man advantage as a result of rule infractions? 6. Could the Lightning continue to take it and return the shots taken often and harshly delivered by the tough guys from the northland? 7. In short, can these upstart Bolts from the land of sunshine and beaches beat these Nanooks on the ice in Nanook, and thus forcing a final, seventh game for the most coveted trophy in the sport, the Stanley Cup, not named for the explorer who found Dr. Livingstone but for an English Lord? 8. Did anybody in Tampa Bay, Buccaneer Land, really care? The Answers? Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, and Heck Yes! The Lightning of Tampa Bay did indeed pull off another impossible dream, did indeed, beat Calgary, at stunned Calgary, this time 3-2, this time in a second overtime and it took every breath of the sudden striking Bolts. Then, the Lord Stanley, the Cup was put back on an airplane for delivery in Tampa Monday night to the winner of that seventh game, and the winner of all the NHL marbles—no, make that all the snowballs. The winner of that all-or-nothing game Monday, June 7, 2004, will not be played in unwarm Calgary, representing a prayerful nation of Canada, but will be played in hot, hot, hot Tampa Bay, not in the snow, but in the land of beaches and white sand before a still-learning but prideful audience will total more than 22,222, the old record, with almost 22,000 of them chanting Go Bolts and beating together those noise sticks of plastic and air that do make this St. Pete Times Forum among us a very loud place. But in that so important, sixth game Saturday night, up there, the Bolts had to win, and did win, fairly and squarely, officials and Lightning declare, when	the 3-2 resolution was of National Hockey League record books, Coach John Tortorella had coached himself another fine game, had prepared his team well, had seen to it the seven needs mentioned in this report were effected to the degree needed. So now, men, we will do it again Monday he surely said, in our house, and share the moment with our Tampa fans. And if the Lightning do win, they can do what the trainer Smarty Jones, Paul Servis said he and his associates would do, lock arms and walk into history together. That now is possible, after Saturday’s imaginative, team effort for the 3-2 win at Calgary. For those of the Lightning tie can now proclaim that which needed to be done was done, all eight requirements for victory, plus more. The Bolts had in this sixth game: 1. Seen and supported their tender, Nikki, with another sound defensive performance by stiffening the Bulin Wall and denying more than two goals, some in the torrid first overtime. Nikki earned his considerable salary and backslaps. 2. Assisted the great scorer, Brad Richards as he scored the first and the second goals for 1-0, then 2-1 leads, and played with unparalleled success. Richards will win the Stanley Cup Playoffs MVP. 3. Martin St. Louis did indeed show up as all have known him. He had one clean shot on the Calgary goal and it swept over the shoulder of Calgary’s terrific tender, Mikki Kiprusoff barely 33 seconds into the second overtime for the 3-2 kill. St. Louis needed that. The Lightning needed that. Calgary did not. Fodtotenko, Stillman and Modin played well and are about to have a breakout game Monday. 4. Yes, the Bolts did indeed stick with their successful defensive work in stopping the Flame power plays, while. . . 5. . . . helping Richards score twice on power plays of their own. Power plays have been a difference in the Calgary series. 6. And yes, yes, YES, the Bolts can stick with the Calgary toughs, take it and dish it out, as demonstrated Saturday night. 7. Then, put simply, yes, the Bolts were good enough, resourceful enough, tough enough to win such an important got-to-win game at Calgary, and they did. 8. Finally, does anybody in this great place in which we live and support out sports teams really care? Absolutely! Notice the crowd of nearly 5,000 sweltering Saturday night at Channelside in Tampa before the big screens brought the victory home? Notice the games are all sold out here, and in an arena that holds about 4,000 more than the Saddledome, and notice owner Bill Davidson and his President, Ron Campbell and those who have worked so hard, are about to turn a profits—a profit on hockey in Tampa? Ownership deserves it. Will need it. Some on this team, though appreciative of ownership (Bill Davidson, 81) and management, just may feel they deserve a raise. Eh? ##
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