Tampa, Florida					Monday, September 06, 2010

Can Lightning Strike Twice in Tampa? Maybe.
Thursday, September 29, 2005
TAMPA—These are the headiest of times for the fan-friendly Tampa Bay Lightning, the champions of the National Hockey League. Indulge this, but may I repeat part of that? The “champions of the National Hockey League.’’ When a blind phone call came in early 1990 from a sports writer in Toronto saying, they had a “guy up here, Jim Rutherford,’’ who said he wants to pursue a NHL expansion franchise in the Tampa area because he thinks it will go, I was sports editor of the Tampa Tribune. I rolled my eyes and said we know nothing of hockey, got no ice, no place to play, but come on down. And he did. Today he owns the Carolina Hurricanes and we have the Lightning and for them, it is absolutely the headiest of times, though that was not always so in earlier times. I mean the Lightning of today, owned by the slick Palace and Entertainment operation of Detroit industrialist William Davidson (Pistons of the NBA) and glass producing king, are surly the darlings of their sport. Yipes, they beat favored Calgary Flames up there dramatically in the tense, tense, tense semi-finals, then in Tampa in the finals on their home ice in a tenser, tenser, tenser game skillions will never forget. Wife Linda and I were on the ice, front row, for that game at the St. Petersburg Times Forum with former Lightning boss David LeFevre, Tampa Bay Buc Defensive Coordinator Monte Kiffin, and big time lawyer Steve Yerrid, so close you could see the eyeballs of the players, and have a Coke knocked in your lap when they collided on the ice, as well as feel and hear this. “By gosh, I have never seen anything so fast, so hard-hitting,” said Kiffin. “They have to skate full speed, push the puck, defend it, look where they are going, check the other players, stop on a dime, start in fifth gear, hit and get hit, and pass or shoot, and not get hurt,” Kiffin added. And there we saw this Lightning franchise team Hall of Famer Phil Esposito, even named and now reports on radio, win the title and the two year possession of the best known of all championship trophies—The Stanley Cup. This giant silver trophy is a precious prize. The Lightning will end up keeping it for two years, through this season, ahead because the NHL the NHL shut down in 2004-2005 over labor and salary disputes. It will be one of the few shutdowns in history that will prove a good deal for all---owners, fans, players, I think. They took enough time to lower the salary cap, rework contracts of special interest, change the rules hoping to increase scoring and drama (the shootout was added and there will be no tie games), and to vastly improve marketing schemes. So therein are other developments to declare these especially heady times for the Lightning, now on the verge of officially opening their regular season Wednesday, Oct. 5. at the Forum before a soldout, SRO outside crowd before a big TV screen along Channelside in Downtown Tampa. And they are	on the verge of all these good things with the heart of their championship team, more good news. The gifted, loyal Vincent Lecavalier, All-World Brad Richards, and Scoring Machine Martin St. Louis are here and all because they wanted to be. Some players signed took less to be with this team, and to stay in Tampa, and made it known. One who did not was all-star goalie Nikolai Khabibulin, who followed the money to Chicago. Khabibulin was superb here in the late going two years ago and in the Stanley Cup playoffs, but at midseason terrific Coach John Tortorella was considering subbing John Grahame when the Russian returned to form. He was wonderful for this franchise, but wanted money the Lightning said it could not pay. Better for me. I could never spell his name without checking. Had it pasted on my computer. Sports Illustrated in its big intro article this week on the NHL, said the Lightning will contend, but likely finish fourth, The pick was Calgary, then the venerable Philadelphia Flyers, the Ottawa Senators who were born as a Lightning Twin in expansion, then Nashville, then all the way down the 30-team league to the 30th New York Rangers. Yep, the NY Rangers are picked dead last, these small potatoes Lightning fourth, but with chance to repeat. “Can’t have injuries. Got to stay healthy,’’ is the position of NHL Coach of the Year Tortorella, a no nonsense coach but a very popular one with the players, executives and the fans, who now are legions. These are all the more reasons to be heady, as it all begins again, at last. Hockey nights have been missed. A dark Forum without hockey nights has been missed. The life down there on Channelside and at spots like the popular Newk’s have been missed, hey, by Newk’s owner Jack Newkirk (former fine Jesuit shooting guard) more than most, perhaps all. He is in a special Boston hospital these days for treatment of a rare liver malady. He sent the team his best, by phone. “Some say we have five of the top fifteen players in the league,’’ said Jay Feaster, Lightning talent man. “I say we did good, losing only one of our four supers in these times of big money and the free market.’’ Feaster also is where he wants to be. As are the off-the-ice execs. “We are starting in a good position,’’ said President Ron Campbell, who has made a point of involving himself in Tampa area civic matters as well as socially. But, that does not stop him from taking your money on the golf course. He’s good. He served with Paul Catoe’s group that won the 2009 Super Bowl for Tampa. He is an unselfish fellow and one of good nature, but gnarly when fighting for his Lightning rights. So, those heady times may well continue. The Stanley Cup is here and on display. The opening night ceremony Wednesday will highlight the raising of the championship banner, and who knows what else. Heck, Hulk Hogan may even sing the national anthem instead of his talented daughter. ##
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