The Lightning ended up SOL - shootout losers - in the home opener on Thursday night. The game tying goal for the Devils couldn't have come at a worse time, either. The Devils scored with less than one second, one second left in the third period. With neither the Bolts or the Devils scoring in the overtime, the game went to a shootout. And well, we kind of could guess before the final result how that was going to turn out. I'm just glad that Smitty was okay after taking a knee to the head from who turned out to be Ryan Malone.

Pictures are worth a 1000 words, right? So consider the following the rest of my right up, lol.

Labels: James Wright, Lightning vs. Devils, Mattias Ohlund, Mike Smith, Paul Ranger, Ryan Malone, Steven Stamkos, Victor Hedman, Zenon Konopka

What? What's this? Sweaters and jackets popping up around campus today as I stumbled around shuffling my laptop and textbook in my arms while my backpack weighed me down. Say it's so! For cold weather can only mean one thing in Florida, right? The cold front that blew through and left us in the frigid mid- to high- seventies must mean that a fresh hockey season is in the air at last.

Granted, this cold front by no means suggests that I'd be comfortable walking around campus all day in my Lightning jersey, dying in the heat of long sleeves and multiple layers of clothes. But still. The black, navy and white will feel much better in the seventies than in the nineties we've been cursed with up until this point. If I had a couple of dimes to my name, I might be tempted to bet this current cold front is the effect of them getting the ice and climate ready over at the Forum for next week.

So, I know what you might be thinking while you read this little rambling of mine. You're sitting there at your desk, sipping your hot chocolate because it's so chilly out, and you're thinking "Oh, she's finally posting her preseason preview even though the actual season starts today." Well, you're - highly unfortunately - wrong on that aspect of your thinking. Preseason happened to blow right over me like a dry, hot wind this year, thanks to this higher education mess I've gotten myself into.

But don't fret, my dearies, because life can begin again now. We can come out of hibernation now, and hopefully our team will as well. While I'm grateful for the nice high first round draft picks we've gotten in the previous two drafts, I think I can speak for the Hockey Bay nation when I say I'm getting a little sick of this losing nonsense. After all, you can only use the rationalization that "we come in last place on purpose so we can get good draft picks, since we know we aren't going to win the Cup this year. After all, second is just the first loser, so you might as well get something good out of being a loser" for so long before people start to get a little suspicious of your rationale.

But enough of this jabber of the past. This season is all about looking forward and tapping into all this new potential we have on the team now. So I look forward to when my hockey season officials starts next Thursday. While I'm sure to dread the wonderfully scenic route along I-4 and I-75 [although I do get a little chuckle, compliments of Paul Ranger, every time we drive by a farm] to get to the Forum next week, the homecoming is guaranteed to be a sweet welcoming back. Pictures and my annoying commentary will be following, you can be sure of that. =D

Welcome to NHL 09/10. Life suddenly seems a little better and cooler today, doesn't it?

I got to touch a Stanley Cup championship ring tonight. While my expectations for tonight were quite different than what actually happened, I took great satisfaction in the fact that I actually got to touch a Stanley Cup ring. Granted, I didn't get a jolt that ran down my spine or anything. In fact, I didn't have a single physical reaction to it, but it was still something special.

I gotta say, being a season ticket holder with the Lightning certainly has its perks. When I went to the Beyond the Blue Line tonight, I thought it was pretty much a tour of the locker room, weight room, etc. On that front, I gotta say I was a little disappointed. True, I did get to go on the tour, as you will soon see for yourself, but there wasn't really that much to see and they kind of rushed us right through it without much time to stop and look at things.

While we didn't spend much time looking around, I managed to pull up the rear and still manage to snag a couple of pictures, in case you haven't had the chance to go yourself, and cause a little trouble in the process.


Did you know that, along with the locker room, the players also have a changing room? Why in the world they would need more than one room to switch clothes in is beyond me, but there you have it. I wonder what they do with the stuff left by the players who aren't coming back next season? Hmmm...



It appears that Ryan Malone just might be stealing some of Vinny Lecavalier's fanbase. If VL4 doesn't watch out, Malone's mailbox is going to out stuff his own. I also love how P Range has a pilates/yoga/something to that affect flier in his. Bwhahaha. Now I'm going to have images of him on one of those huge yoga bouncy balls tonight, especially since Espo mentioned that P Range doesn't lift weights [or, at least, didn't when he first got here]. He's got to stay in shape somehow.



From a different angle than the camera on SunSports usually shows, and a little emptier than during intermissions. Gotta say, from a strictly female point of view, it somehow just doesn't look quite as impressive without a handful of half naked guys walking around. Can't quite put my finger on exactly why though...



Well, Hedman certainly looks like he's starting to settle in already. During this point of the tour, I tried to hand my dad my car keys to run out to the parking lot and get the car started. I was plotting on how to best hide the stick while I sneaked it out of the building. But at that point, I knocked into something - klutz that I am - and dashed all plans of thievery I'd had in mind. Next time, next time.

Tis no wonder that those players have such wicked slapshots though. Their sticks weigh next to nothing.



If you'd happened to have seen the new banners on the light posts around the Forum with the slogans "The good" "The bad" and "The just plain ugly", that just about sums up the walls lined with each season's team photograph.



The paraphrased version. Probably looks like something I would have written on this blog as a game write up after an away game on the west coast.



Certainly smelled nicer in here now than it's going to in about a month or two from now.



Besides the little tour of the locker room and player areas [including the shower area; and if you - like my roommate - are wondering if the tour of the showers was while the players were in them, the answer is a firm no], the Beyond the Blue Line session included a little meet and greet with some Lightning personnel. I have to say, I'm glad tonight's session didn't feature front office faces; I enjoyed talking to and listening to the Lightning broadcasting personnel.

Chris Dingman was supposed to make an appearance, but I don't think I actually ever laid eyes on him there. Rick Peckham actually broadcasted a segment from the room where the meet and greet was held, after mingling with guests for a while. I spent most of the evening talking shop with Dave Mishkin about the upcoming season and listening to hilarious, laugh out loud stories by Phil Esposito. Not only does he have some crazy stories to tell, but man does he know how to present them. The great part about his stories is that he can say something completely crazy that shouldn't be funny, but it is anyway. You don't even have to ask him any questions or beg him for another anecdote. He just pulls them out of his sleeve and hits the ground running.

What's also great about Espo is that he definitely isn't going to sugarcoat anything for you. He's going to tell it like he sees it and give you his opinion straight up. For example, if you ever get a chance to talk to him, ask him what he thinks about Krajicek. Or the fact that the owners hired Melrose as the head coach. Or even the current development of the team buying out the remainder of Prospal's contract and cutting him free.


With training camp and the preseason not too far in the future, I hope to get up a little pre-training camp piece within the next couple of weeks. So look for it.

Perhaps even a new layout for the blog will surface as well, giving me a little more room to make pictures bigger. =)

Until then!

Labels: Lukas Krajicek, Paul Ranger, Ryan Malone, Victor Hedman, Vinny Lecavalier, Vinny Prospal