By JUSTIN KANE
The Tampa Bay Lightning are good. Correction the Tampa Bay Lightning are great. Actually they are the best in their division, and I bet nobody knows, actually I know that nobody knows. Tampa has their best team since their Stanley Cup season of 2004 and nobody seems to have any idea.
The National Hockey League became relevant again after the 2010 Winter Olympics when Canada beat the United States in the gold medal game. Americans realized that the US isn’t the laughing stock of the hockey world, but they are actually a dominant force. Thanks to that gold medal game the ripple effects for the NHL has been tremendous putting hockey into the spotlight of America with the likes of the NFL and the NBA.
Unlike the Tampa Bay Rays, the Tampa Bay area actually likes the Lightning and they attend games. They have Lightning banners and posters outside of buildings downtown, 9 out of 10 times there will be someone wearing a Lightning shirt walking around. But here in Orlando it seems like people have no idea who the Lightning are, let alone how good they are. If you ask someone “who’s good in the NHL this year?” they’ll probably look at you all funny as they try to figure out what NHL stands for.
This year the Lightning are 34-18-5 and they get no love here in Florida besides the Tampa area. They are playing their best hockey as of late going 5-2 in their last seven games. They have a five game lead in the win column over the newly fan-hated Washington Capitals and they’ve beaten the east leading Philadelphia Flyers three times. They are second place in the Eastern Conference, but they are playing like the number one team. The leading points getter and goal scorer plays for the Lighting is Steven Stamkos and he leads the NHL with 74 points and 40 goals. Oh and he just turned 21 eight days ago.
Why doesn’t anyone like hockey? Is it too boring? Not enough action? Not enough scores? Those are all pitiful excuses that don’t stand true. Watch any game and you’ll see fast-paced skating, tons of shots and more fights than a boxing match. Take the New York Islanders versus the Pittsburgh Penguins match last week: there were two fights in a six second span, including the goalies. I’m not lying.
All of you die-hard NFL fans out there that don’t like to watch sports until next September when pre-season starts, and all you NBA fans (especially Cleveland Caviler fans) who give up on your team, tune into a NHL game and especially see how exciting the game of hockey is and how good the Lightning are and you’ll be in for a pleasant surprise.