Tampa, Florida					Monday, September 06, 2010

THE TAMPA BULLIES and BALLET TROUPE
Monday, April 24, 2006
TAMPA—It was last week suggested here consideration be given renaming these resilient, reborn Lighting the Cinderella Men, after the as the hero of that terrific boxing story of the Life of Unlikely Heavyweight Champion James J. Braddock, for all they had overcome to make it to the NHL Playoffs. The recommendation is withdrawn. Now suggest consideration of The Tampa Bay Bullies and Ballet Troupe after their variety performance on the Ottawa ice Sunday night that should have been melting beneath because of the fiery play in that franchise Top 10 Tampa upset of the favored Senators. Four busloads of packed Lightning fans made up the minority in the tough Ottawa home arena where certain victory would be theirs, and by an embarrassing margin. The Lightning on this night played with the speed we knew they had, and with the grit we knew they had, with the resolve we knew they had, with the no-quit we thought they had, as reigning Stanley Cup Champs we know they still are, and with the best of the best playing their best when they needed to do that. Anything less—all of which Coach John Tortorella asked of them repeatedly, as did players who spoke out. And, get this, the lads from Tampa out-hit, out-slammed, probably out-growled the Senators. They held their heads higher, throughout, ahead, tied, behind, rallied for the late 4-3 win, and perhaps best of all allowed only two Ottawa shots in the third period Ottawa claims to own, particularly against the Tampa Bullies. Had to get that Bullies in again quickly so I can insert here that no one on the ice Sunday hit harder, or more purposefully than the littlest stud in uniform, Martin St. Louis. And after a particularly crash into a bigger body, he stared at the hittee, almost laughed at him, why, guess is he so wanted to shoot him a bird. Marty, the lovable 5-9 dervish with thighs thicker than, those strong men at the bottom of twin stack of acrobats was just a devil Sunday. It was clearly the game St. Louis has been waiting for, as have his legions of fans. As for the ballet, well, tell me if it did not appear frequently like ballet on ice, but never more than when 6-1 Dan Boyle, a native of Ottawa, who has never had on a pair of toe-shoes, did not seem to be imitating Mikhail Baryshnikov when he took a pass from Dmitry Afanasenkof at center ice, spun, faked out Ottawa’s Andrei Meszros, at the left circle, and while moving to complete his circle, wrested the puck into the top corner to tie the drama at 3-3 with 5:24. More ballet followed quickly in another shot of the game. A blur streaked in front of the Ottawa goal and helpless Senator	goalie Ray Emery (who actually had two great games) and shoved the puck into Emery’s unguarded net for the winning goal. The blur was St. Louis, Mr. Everywhere on this afternoon-night of the return of greatness to a Lightning game. Oh, and by the way, John Grahame, in goal again for Tampa, was superlative. He played as good as he can. He played one of those “upside down’’ games, a bigtime compliment for those men who must try to follow the puck, the approaching attackers, their own players, the clock, the officials, and still prevent the puck to get past them to set off the red lights and all manner of moods. And, oh, by the way Brad Richards scored a beauty of a goal in the second period, and was always lurking, near the puck. He and the other stars of stars, Vinny Lecavalier, Vinny Prospal, Ruslan Fedotenko, Pavel Kubin, Fredrik Modin, Tim Taylor, and Nolan Pratt packed it in for even minutes, no one among the best of the best in this one was ever playing at less than 100 percent. No one could have, and still won the frenetic game Same defensively, of course, same for the specialty guys, toughs like Chris Dingman (6-4, 234), a take out guy, a hammer, who looks mad before the game starts. His whiskered jut-jaw seemed to jut more Sunday. He was a street gang of one on the prowl. Scared me and I watched this on television from Tampa. So, now, we get to it. What does it mean, this win at Ottawa? Well, in any playoff, if you open on the road, you’ll take a split of two games, then give all effort a sweep at home (Tampa) with the crowd the extra man. It surely will be here Tuesday evening. Beyond that, well, by golly, the impossible did happen in Ottawa. All north of the border predicted a great win for the Ottawans, well, maybe not former Ottawans, Dan Boyle, the man who is listed as a defensemen in the Lightning guide, but with his ballet move, produced that important, marginal goal was of great comfort to him, and to his mom and dad, who flew back to Tampa with the team. They live in Largo, and get this, sit by my wife Linda and I at the games in the St. Petersburg Forum, as they will two nights this week. Solid people, the Boyles, as is their son Dan, educated at Miami (of Ohio), now not just as the Cradle of College Coaches. So, this superb win also reinstates Lightning as more than just a journeyman team, but as legitimate contenders to in it all. Put down time over. It is done in the minds of all, the players themselves, the fans in both venues, not to mention ownership and management. They’re back. The ole Forum should be shaking for these next few days and nights. Babaloo. ##
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