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Ride The Lightning - June 9, 2021 - By Ryan Hunt
TAMPA BAY HAS COME a long way as a hockey town.
Growing up in Florida, it wasn’t exactly easy to develop a real connection with the sport. So how did it happen? Let’s rewind to one of my first – and fondest – memories of the Lightning franchise: the elusive $99 season ticket.
After spending their inaugural expansion season in a small, old barn called Expo Hall, the Bolts moved across the bay for the 1993-94 season to the cavernous building in St. Petersburg that was soon to be renamed the ThunderDome. With nearly 30,000 seats in a built-for-baseball stadium that now hosts MLB’s Tampa Bay Rays, the team put 999 season tickets up for sale for the absurdly low cost of $2.68 a game in order to spur interest.
And, hey, it worked. They were a hot ticket. I camped overnight outside the stadium’s office with friends to ensure I snagged two of them, even though I was a college student living two hours up the road.
The tickets were upper-deck general admission, yet my father and I tried to pick the same seats every game we attended. Section 309, six rows up, on the aisle, behind the net. It was our first true introduction to the sport. From that bird’s-eye view, there was no better way to learn about – and fall in love with – the game. Or to begin to fully understand and appreciate the speed, power, strategy and skill…even if the Lightning of that era didn’t possess much of it.
In those days, there was no Kucherov, Point or Stamkos, no Hedman or Vasilevskiy…though they did have a Gretzky (uh, it was Brent). Instead, some of the names that echoed off the ThunderDome catwalks were (Daren) Puppa, Roman (Hamrlik) and Rudy (Poeschek). Yet in an area with a significant number of transplants, many of the sweaters you saw in the stands night after night were for the Red Wings, Blackhawks, Canadiens, Penguins or whatever historic NHL franchise that happened to be in town.
From The Archive: Heddy Days
The Hockey News has released its archive to all THN subscribers: 76 years of history, stories, and features.
The signs of the hockey town that Tampa Bay could become, however, were there. When the Lightning made the playoffs for the first time in 1996 – one of the few moments of on-ice success in the franchise’s first decade – the Bolts drew an NHL-record playoff crowd of 28,183 to the ThunderDome. It’s a mark that still stands today.
That’s where the seeds were first planted. Fast forward nearly 30 years, and now the NHL’s model franchise resides in, yes, Tampa Bay, Fla.
It seems hard to fathom given the state of the franchise in those early years, when it was at one point even teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. But after finishing off Montreal to capture their second consecutive Stanley Cup – and the third title in franchise history – the Lightning have now cemented their place in hockey lore, one of only nine franchises to accomplish the back-to-back feat.
This latest Cup run puts a bow on an incredible seven-season stretch that is one of the most dominant of the salary-cap era: two Stanley Cup championships, three trips to the Cup final, five appearances in the Eastern Conference final and a Presidents’ Trophy. Tampa Bay’s 70 playoff victories since 2015 are by far the most in the NHL, miles ahead of runners-up Pittsburgh and Washington (42).
IT ALWAYS FELT LIKE TAMPA WAS EVERYBODY’S SECOND-FAVORITE TEAM. NOW IT FEELS LIKE WE’RE EVERYBODY’S FAVORITE TEAM– Jon Cooper
Through incredible scouting and drafting (a tip of the cap to head scout Al Murray), shrewd salary-cap management (save your over-the-cap jokes, the Bolts broke no rules) and some aggressive trades to put them over the top, the Lightning built a juggernaut.
Off the ice, the impact was just as significant. Thanks in large part to owner Jeff Vinik, who bought and revitalized the franchise in 2010, the Lightning have captured the attention and imagination of the entire Tampa Bay area. The Channelside waterfront district around Amalie Arena has been completely transformed. Lightning flags and logos are now everywhere around town.
The most notable difference, according to coach Jon Cooper?
“I’ve watched other teams’ jerseys be fairly prominent in our arena and now, you really have to look to find one,” said Cooper, who was hired by Tampa Bay in 2013 and is the NHL’s longest-tenured coach. “When I first got here it always felt like Tampa was everybody’s second-favorite team. Now it feels like we’re everybody’s favorite team.”
Sure, winning three championships has helped. But the arrival of this hockey town was years in the making, contrary to what people outside of the Sun Belt may think.
Prior to the pandemic, the Bolts sold out 234 consecutive games at Amalie Arena. They have been consistently among the league’s best in NHL attendance for the past decade.
Tampa Bay loves its Lightning. So it was fitting they were able to celebrate this latest Stanley Cup at home, in front of a packed Amalie crowd, after winning the title last year in the bubble in an empty arena in Edmonton. “To do it in front of our fans, our families, our friends, that’s what means the most to us,” said Lightning captain Steven Stamkos moments after winning the Cup. “This is redemption for them, to be able to spend this time with us. We wanted to win in Game 4, it didn’t work out. Maybe it was a blessing in disguise because we got to do this in front of our amazing fans and families who have been there supporting us since Day 1.”
For the Lightning, it has been an incredible journey. Tampa Bay’s journey as a hockey town has been just as rewarding.
And for those lucky few, like me, it started with $99, third-level season tickets and priceless memories.