Tampa Bay Sports Blog

Game 1 – St Louis:

Meeting Sully Friday before the game was interesting.  The team has had to go through several transitions this season:  Melrose – Tocchet – Shoulder Surgeries (defenseman revolving door) – Trade Deadline.  We heard the game plan, and then we heard about what to look for on the ice from both teams.  Past problems mentioned included the defense passing the puck too many times in the defensive zone, instead of one pass and get it the puck up the ice.  Also, the Lightning only has 9-players with NHL experience.  The rest have limited or no experience.  Ouch!

The coaches challenged the Lightning players with taking the diagonal passes away from the St Louis Blues and crowding their goalie from inside the dots so he couldn’t see.  The crowding wouldn’t stop the initial save, but more times than not it would allow a rebound shot to get by the opposing goalie.  Unfortunately, the best person at crowding the goalie, Bugsy (Ryan Malone), was out with the flu.  The Lightning also needed to improve on the power play.  They were ranked near the bottom, moved all the way up to 16^th in the league, and fell back down towards the bottom when Mesaros and Ranger left for shoulder surgeries.

The Lightning also had to deal with a goalie who was ranked 6^th and is now ranked 2^nd in the league in goals against average, a team that ranked 10^th in power play percentage, and 9^th in penalty kills.  Recchi is gone; Roberts sat out.  We may have seen him play his last game on March 1^st.  Is he contemplating retiring before the end of the season or do the Lightning not want to pay the $10,000 per game stipend he receives for each game he plays. 

The game begins.  The first two periods were lack luster – neither team seemed to want the puck giving it up in each defensive zone.  Players still passed the puck too many times in the defensive zone.  The Lightning never had any defensemen helping Ramo in front of the net.  The lucky bounces went the Blue’s way and they were ahead 2-0.  A totally different Lightning team showed up for the third period.  The Lightning didn’t play dead, they didn’t give up, and they kept trying to do what they needed to win the game.  St Louis and Pettinger each scored, and with less than a minute left in regulation, the improving rookie, Stamkos scored the tying goal.  Alas, Boyes from the Blues scored within 1-minute of overtime to win the game.

Game 2 – Carolina:

Not too much to say here!  Again, players still gave the puck away too many times in the defensive zone.  Carolina scored 3-times in the first and 6-times in the second period.  Not only did Staal have a hat trick, he scored 4-goals and had 6-points in the game.  Ruutu and Cole didn’t fair too badly either.  St Louis scored in the first, Lecavalier and Malone scored goals in the third, where it appeared the Hurricanes had let up a little.  The only Lightning player who looked like he was playing for his life was Arty (guess he read the St Pete Times with his coffee that morning).

Big question – who will be here next year?  They can’t trade 21-players . . . or can they?

Technorati Tags: Andrej Meszaros, Barry Melrose, Evgeny Artyukhin, Gary Roberts, Mark Recchi, Martin St. Louis, Mike Sullivan, Paul Ranger, Rick Tocchet, Ryan Malone, Steven Stamkos, Tampa Bay Lightning, Vinny Lecavalier

Brian Lawton said he was looking for draft choices – we got one. We did get some depth at defense. After sitting Recchi and Roberts Tuesday night so they wouldn’t be injured, Recchi was traded and Roberts cleared waivers. Looks like Stamkos’ tutelage will continue under the watchful eyes of Gary Roberts.

Boston picked up Mark Recchi and a 2^nd round draft pick in 2010 for 2-minor leaguers – Matt Lashoff, 22 (defenseman) and Martins Karsums, 23 (forward). The Bruins will benefit from having Recchi (I hate seeing him go – I read Boston is planning on signing him for the 2009-2010 season in the Boston Globe).

Recchi gives the Bruins playoff experience and a veteran presence. Recchi, at 41, with 535 career goals joins Phil Esposito (Lightning founder and 620 WDAE radio color commentator), Dave Andreychuk (Lightning 2004 Stanley Cup Captain and current Community Representative for the Lightning), John Bucyk, and Joe Mullen in the small group Bruins scoring more than 500-goals. He has 2-Stanley Cups, he is a 7-time All-Star, and he has accumulated 1426 points over his career.

Lashoff hasn’t played any NHL games, but he appears to be a good prospect for the Lightning on paper. Karsums played in 6-games for the Bruins this year and he has 17-goals, 24-assists, and 20-penalty minutes in 43-minor league games played.

The Panthers got Steve Emminger (the only healthy, experienced, defenseman we have left) Noah Welch (defenseman) and a 3^rd round draft pick in 2009. Welch was injured most of the last two seasons but has played 23-games in the minors this season. This was a salary dump to be sure – the Lightning wouldn’t be able to pay what he would get in arbitration!

The biggest deal has to be the way the Lightning unloaded 3-injured players to the Maple Leafs for Richard Petiot (defenseman). Toronto got Olaf Kolzig (goalie) who had surgery, Jamie Heward (defenseman) out with a concussion, Andy Rogers (minor-league defenseman) who has a back injury, and a 4^th round draft pick. Another salary dump???

The salary dumps should help us get some help over the summer – I just hope we don’t trade the whole team again! I will be at the coach’s chalk talk tomorrow before the game – I’m interested in hearing what there plans are for the rest of the season as far as the line formations go.

Technorati Tags: Andy Rogers, Boston Bruins, Brian Lawton, Carolina Hurricanes, Dave Andreychuk, Gary Roberts, Jamie Heward, Joe Mullen, John Bucyk, Mark Recchi, Martins Karsums, Matt Lashoff, Noah Welch, Olaf Kolzig, Phil Esposito, Richard Petiot, Stanley Cup, Steve Emminger, Steve Stamkos, Tampa Bay Lightning, Toronto Maple Leafs

The game against Pittsburgh included terrible passing by both teams – the bounces and breaks all seemed to go the Penguin’s way. Fleury had 33-shots fired at him and he made some very good saves giving up only 1-goal. Ramo also had 33-shots fired at him but there was no defense to help him defend the rebounds. The coaches can only tell players how to play; the players have to stick to the game plan. So many times, there were cross-ice passes with the opposition in between causing many lost possessions and scoring chances. Although in the 3^rd period, the Lightning finally got their act together and passed to the weak side and the cross-ice passes were successful because there were no Penguins in the area. Even though we out-shot the Penguins, it was too little to late.

Not that it changed the game but it appeared Dan O’Rourke had a hair you-know-where when Prospal complained about being dumped (it should have been a penalty – it was quite a mess). After the next play, Prospal continued to complain and O’Rourke slapped him with and unsportsmanlike penalty allowing the Penguins to score on the power play.

Recchi’s absence was felt (the team scratched him and Roberts so they wouldn’t get hurt before the trade deadline – Malik has been hurt all year). It’s a downer to know we finally got two scoring lines (Lecavalier, Prospal, and Malone) and (Recchi, St Louis, and Stamkos) and now they are going to trade him. He may be 41, but he is out playing the younger lads! Seeing Recchi and St Louis playing point to the improving Stamkos is exciting!

A side note: Arty is such a good skater but he skates so fast he goes faster than the puck and cannot control it. We lost a lot of scoring opportunities because Arty ended up behind the net with the puck. He did have a few good hits (maybe he is getting over being gun-shy from his suspension). He needs to go for it.

We only have 7-players (9 if you count Prospal who went to Philly, and Smaby who came up from the minors several times last year) who played on the 2007-2008 team. So out of a roster of 29 people that doesn’t allow for much ‘communication’ on the ice, especially with a revolving door bringing 45-different players on the team this year (including a wannabe coach and interim coach who I feel deserves the full title). I do have to say the AHL guys who called up during the year have shown a lot of grit, desire, and potential. Szczechura was especially fast and very good with the puck. Smaby has been a great addition to the defense so there is hope for next year as long as we don’t trade the whole team away again.

It’ll be interesting to see whom we end up with after 3 pm today (could we possibly break the 50-player mark for this year’s roster?). I try to make myself feel better by thinking perhaps the Lightning will resign Recchi to a 1-year contract during the summer since he will be a free agent and the tutelage of Stamkos can continue.

Patti

Technorati Tags: AHL, Barry Melrose, Dan O'Rourke, Evgeny Artyukhin, Karri Ramo, Marc-Andre Fleury, Marek Malik, Mark Recchi, Martin St. Louis, Paul Szczechura, Pittsburg Penguins, Rick Tocchet, Ryan Malone, Steve Stamkos, Tampa Bay Lightning, Vinny Lecavalier

Just to give everyone a heads up, I have written a guest “shit talking” post for David Chalk over at Bugs and Cranks. It was fun to rip on the Pirates and I may jump in on some others if time permits. Thanks to David for reaching out and letting me do a little trash talking. If you aren’t familiar with David’s work, I encourage you to check it out. It’s extremely entertaining stuff. I’ll have more Rays posts up soon by the way and I may be adding a new blogger to the mix who will  help take care of the Lightning. Expect a post from her later in the week. I’ll get on the Rays stuff through the week and I am currently working on the player cards for the Rays only. I’m putting the Bucs on hold for a while. Thanks everyone and let me know what you think of the post over at Bugs and Cranks and be ready to comment on the new blogger when she’s ready.

Technorati Tags: Bugs and Cranks, David Chalk, Scott Brannelly, Tampa Bay Lightning, Tampa Bay Rays

I’m not going to pile on an already bad team here, they know they suck. I just am confused as to what they are trying to accomplish on the ice. I’ve only seen bits and pieces of the Bolts over the last couple weeks and I finally watched a couple full games last night and this morning. After watching I am completely lost at what the Lightning are doing on the defensive end still. I have questioned their defensive scheme and plan since last season and things look the same.

I get confused because of this. Any team in any sport that is bad can improve by working harder and sticking to the plan on defense. I’ve posted the video of the Jason Strudwick goal from last nights game against Edmonton as an example. The team still bunches up around the goalie too much, doesn’t attack on the wing and gets caught standing around too often. It’s just an ugly thing to watch right now and I am finding it harder and harder to stomach these games.

The one bright spot over the last month or so has been the improved play of Steve Stamkos. Stamkos is starting to look like the player we hope he can become and he should improve dramatically over the next couple years as he gains some much needed size and maturity.

I will always be a fan of this team, but it may be time to start getting nasty with these guys.

Technorati Tags: Edmonton Oilers, Jason Strudwick, Steve Stamkos, Tampa Bay Lightning

It’s time for the Bolts to admit that this is a rebuilding year and just start heaving the young players into the lineup to take their lumps. It’s time for the youngsters to show and prove. I have seen enough from this team this year to know that they are not going to improve behind the constant shifting of players in and out or behind some of the veterans that were supposed to fill team needs. Mike McKenna is exactly what this team needed right now. A young guy with some fire in his belly who can give this team a youthful shot of exuberance and excitement. It’s now known that Mike Smith is suffering from post concussion syndrome and I don’t see any need to rush this guy back. They need to let the young guys take over between the pipes and see who can hold their own in this league. We all know that Mike Smith is the guy and he will be until someone dethrones him, which is highly unlikely, so there should be no worries about that.

Follow the Rays my children. Get young, fiery and put some guys out there who will learn and develop. Find the guys who want to earn a job on this team and give them all they can handle. I have to think at this point that a someone like St. Louis would rather be on the ice with some young inexperienced guys who want to be there than some experienced players who are going through the motions.

It’s time for reality to set in on everyone. This team is not making the playoffs and need to start building toward the future. More playing time is needed for the youngsters and less for the so called veterans. Everyone loves the Mike McKenna story and the Lightning need to start chasing more of those types of stories than whatever they’ve been chasing so far. We need the youth movement to happen and we need it now.

Technorati Tags: Martin St. Louis, Mike McKenna, Mike Smith, Tampa Bay Lightning, Tampa Bay Rays

The blog world is a wild place. I have learned a lot of things the hard way since I started doing this last year and it has humbled me like nothing else I’ve done. I have done a lot of things in my life that have molded me into the man that I have become. My mentality and my world has constantly changed in my life and I know it always will. There were so many seemingly harsher things that I’ve dealt with and learned from like street fighting, USMC boot camp, parenthood, etc., that I thought it would be easy to jump right in to the blog thing and roll along without a problem. It’s a totally different animal than anything else I’ve done.

I started this thing as a hobby site and it remains one and, for those of you that read already know, I’m still trying to find a direction to take this thing as it evolves. I’m not trying to be a journalist, become a writer or get credentialed in any way. That’s where I find such a huge difference between myself and most others out there. Rays Index brought something to my attention tonight that made me think about things and really made me laugh. Rays Renegade wrote a piece on how bloggers don’t get respect enough to get media credentials and it was really very funny to me.

This guy may be a true journalist and, if what he says he’s done is true, has some real stones in trying to work his way into the mainstream media. What was so funny and confusing to me was his statement about how he has been in the industry for four years and can’t understand why bloggers can’t get credentialed easier. If he was truly a journalist in the industry I would think he understands why bloggers don’t get that kind of respect.

Since I got involved in this world I have learned a few things that hold true. First is this. You have to earn your respect whether you’re a journalist or not. I have found that most other sites and blogs that cover the same teams you do don’t want to recognize that you even exist, especially if you don’t comment on their site. When they do recognize you it’s always a negative thing that starts it. When Rays Index first started throwing me links it was because of the Barry Bonds and Brendan Harris posts I wrote. Cork tore me apart on the Harris thing, but I stayed with what I was doing and he has gave me some encouragement and I thought that was extremely cool of him. I give him a lot of credit with this type of thing because he doesn’t care if I’m here or not. He acknowledges me and does his thing. I can’t say the same for most other sites I’ve tried to deal with like DRaysBay, BucEm, the other Tampa Bay Sports Blog and so on. I realize that there may be a sense of someone like me invading their territory or something like that, but if you read what I write and how often I write, these guys should know they have nothing to worry about. Greg Auman has also been very helpful with me. He first approached me when, as I tried to cover the USF Bulls, I forgot to put a link in a post about where I got my info from and he quickly let me know that was wrong. That was my ignorance in the blog thing and he recognized that and offered me a little guidance from that point on. Greg and Cork are the only positive people I have met on the net though and that makes the first point for this guy. The blog world is petty and competitive, so how much more so is it when you’re a blogger dealing with real journalists? Like them or not, journalists have already paid there dues in college, internships and what not. They have EARNED the right to get credentialed by major teams in sports. There are plenty of people out there that can put a thought, article or an interview better than journalists can, but you always have to pay your dues in life. Shouldn’t a journalist know this?

Something else I’ve learned is this. There are way more bloggers than journalists. Ok, I know that’s a dumb statement, but it’s relevant. Everyday a new blog pops up about the Rays, Bucs, or whatever team you follow. Knowing this, anyone should know that getting credentialed as a blogger is going to be that much tougher. Let’s try to relate it like this. If you’re an athlete in high school and you’re one of the rare superstars with silly talent, you’re going to get recognized and given tons of opportunities. If you’re not, than it’s going to take longer and some other things will have to come into play. You need to be in the right place at the right time, be exceptional in another way, know someone, etc. These are the stories everyone loves to hear. We love to hear how Kurt Warner bagged groceries before getting his shot or how a guy like Earnest Graham finally breaks through after years of being a special teams player. If a blogger breaks through into the mainstream media and earns his respect, which this guy could do, it would be one of those heartwarming stories. The problem right now is he is acting like he has earned it already by starting a blog. Anyone can do that, just look at me.

It is all strange and funny to me. The blog world is odd, yet interesting. It can be used as a platform to showcase one’s journalistic talents, but it’s a long road that way. It’s like a high school football player with bad grades going to junior college. They can make it, but it’s not the route someone ideally takes to get there. It’s all strange to me. I’ve been doing this for almost a year now and I still have much more to learn than most. I admit to being ignorant to the blog thing, really the whole internet thing in general, but I go on because I like to voice my opinion. I feel my writing is coherent enough, even though I may not always get the point across that I want to, that the people who read what I write enjoy it. I don’t expect anyone to follow my site to depend on current news of their favorite teams here, I think they come to hear my opinion and get a different perspective on it. That’s it. Obviously this guy is trying to be a journalist of some sort and that shows a completely different goal than mine, but what I’ve learned from my experience tells me he’s doing a bad job of it right now. From what I’ve read of his stuff, he’s a good enough writer, but was accused of plagiarism by a couple of commenter’s on Rays Index. That’s a big deal. I believe he has done it also, only because it was pointed out that a commenter noticed it, the post was modified. That shows there was something wrong with what he was doing. One thing I know about writing is this. If you write it, stick by it. I have written some things on this site that, when I go back and read them, I would like to change or delete. I don’t because I wrote it and I need to stand by it. You can’t change the past, writing or otherwise, so you shouldn’t mess with it. When you make mistakes you can’t remove them, you learn from them. That’s life. Writing is the same in this and it should be. If you want someone to take you seriously, you can’t backtrack and remove what is regrettable or wrong, you learn from it and live with the body of work you produce. Like what I write or not, agree with me or not, I live with what I write on this site. If I go away because I suck, that’s what it is and I learn from it and life goes on. If people like me and keep coming to the site, it all goes on and life is still the same. In this sense I can’t relate to this guy at Rays Renegade. He is striving for more than I am with what he’s doing and his life seems dependant on it. I feel that he wrote what he did in an attempt to gain attention to himself. If he didn’t, he’s an idiot. That may not stop him from getting where he wants to go, but he’s still an idiot if he thinks this.

The bottom line in all this is this. All journalists can be bloggers if they are required or choose to be, not all bloggers can be journalists. Blogging is great because it’s freedom of speech at it’s best, but it doesn’t make you a journalist. I’m a blogger, but I will never be confused for a journalist. It’s a comparison that can’t be made and that’s why bloggers don’t get credentials. If you need to actually think to figure that out than there is something wrong with you. There are bloggers out there that are better than the journalists that cover what they do, but it doesn’t mean they have earned anything more than the journalists they are better than. I know people in the marketing department with the Rays, Lightning and Magic. I can get tickets from them at will and my site has even been brought to ownership’s attention with these teams. I was offered credentials to a couple of Lightning and Rays games but, while taking the free tickets they offered me, I have no desire to go into the press box for these games. I found it laughable that I was offered this and I’m sure any of you reading this do as well, but it’s the point of knowing people here. I was offered these things because of me being the person I am, not the writer I am. If this guy is going to go about things the way he is, it’s going to be a very long road. I would bet that he’ll be writing about some other team and pulling the same crap before the Rays give him anything, but what do I know. I never ask for comments on anything, but I would really like to see some comments in this post. I want to hear your opinion on this post, so please take the time to let me know what you think.

Technorati Tags: Earnest Graham, Kurt Warner, Orlando Magic, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Tampa Bay Lightning, Tampa Bay Rays, United States Marine Corps, USF Bulls

The playoff games yesterday were outstanding. I found myself just completely drawn to both games and could barely move while watching them, which was bad because I was at work. Oh well, my job is safe. There wasn’t much else on so I decided to watch a little of the Phoenix/Edmonton hockey game and I learned something real quick. If it’s not the Lightning, I don’t really want to watch it. I used to love watching hockey of any kind, but I just couldn’t do it yesterday. I will watch Ovechkin, Crosby and even Jarome Iginla, but that’s pretty much it. Anyway, here’s what I thought of the two playoff games.

Though I’m not a fan of either team, my hatred of Philly led me to root for the Cardinals. After watching the game I really don’t think that either one of those teams stood a chance against the Ravens or the Steelers. Warner still looks as scared as a man can possibly look on the football field when anyone gets a shot at him. I can’t wait to see the look on his face when the Steelers get a hold of him. It’s not going to be pretty. The Arizona defense looks to be good enough and Larry Fitzgerald is just a freak. Fitzgerald is playing like a man amongst boys and it should be fun to watch what he does against the Steelers.

The Ravens/Steelers game was sick. I really mean sick. The hitting that went on in that game hurt me just watching it. I jumped out of my chair and had a sick feeling when I saw that hit on Willis McGahee from Ryan Clark and I can only hope that Willis recovers from that. That was one of those hits that kills guys careers and it still makes me ill when I just even think about it, much less see it. I must send out my best wishes to McGahee and his family after that one. There was a ton of hitting in that game and it looks like the Steelers are on their way to another Super Bowl win. I’m rooting for them too because of Mike Tomlin. He looks like an outstanding guy to play for and it would be pretty cool for him to come home to Tampa and win a Super Bowl here. That’s about it for now, I’m looking forward to the Cavs/Lakers game tonight and I’m not sure if I want to even try to watch the Bolts invite Brad Richards back to town. That one could be ugly. I know I’ll end up watching it though and I can only hope that if the Stars win, it’s Brad doing the damage.

Technorati Tags: Alexander Ovechkin, Arizona Cardinals, Baltimore Ravens, Brad Richards, Dallas Stars, Jarome Iginla, Kurt Warner, Larry Fitzgerald, Mike Tomlin, Philadelphia Eagles, Pittsburg Steelers, Ryan Clark, Sidney Crosby, Super Bowl, Tampa Bay Lightning, Willis McGahee

I’ve been attempting to watch as many Lightning games as possible this season as I work 60 hours a week and I find myself wondering, why? If there were Rays, Bucs, Magic and Lightning games on all at the same time, they basically go in that order as I choose to watch them. My first love is baseball and so on, but I love my hometown teams and have stuck with them through thick and thin. I’m really having a hard time with the Lightning though. It’s not just because they’re bad, it’s because there is no direction. I gave the Rays too much attention under Naimoli because they were going nowhere and I knew it, but stuck with them. I give the Bucs too much attention now because Gruden gave me a Super Bowl and I try to pretend he’s not as big a piece of crap as he his because of it, but I stick with them. The Magic give me every reason to believe now, but those Grant Hill years were tough.

The Lightning aren’t giving me anything right now and I keep looking for the silver lining. The problem is that I’m having trouble holding on to it. I posted before that I’m optimistic about them, and I still am, but I’m having a real hard time keeping that attitude. They play well on some nights and that gets me a little. Rick Tocchet is a very likable coach who seems to be the type of guy we want here, and that’s good. The problems still linger though.

The first problem is the ownership. They have been a cluster fuck since they got here. The hiring and firing of the Mullet, the trade of Dan Boyle,the constant rotation of players in and out, and now more Vinny crap. I have no problem with ownership moving a crazy amount of guys if they’re trying to find their way, that’s acceptable. I do have a problem with them moving Vinny right now though.

If they pull this crap on Vinny it will destroy every relationship with the players they have, or could have in the future. Don’t sign a guy to big extension, tell him he won’t get traded, and then trade him. I already wonder if there is any ethics left in our society, please don’t make it any worse. I’m one of the few in the area that thinks Vinny has underachieved since his arrival, but I don’t see the need to move him now. If they would have done it in the off season, I could have accepted it, but to do it now is just dumb. You’re not going to get enough in return now to justify the move and make this team competitive, so please don’t do it.

I truly believe that Oren Koules and company could improve their standing here if they don’t move Vinny. We all know the circus that has invaded town since Koules got here and we know how bad this team has played, but if they go nuts and move the face of the franchise now, I don’t see how they recover. There’s no shot of them turning around and selling the team for more money either so that’s out. Maybe these are just rumors like in the past, but I believe them more now because our ownership is so stupid. We’ll see what happens, but I’m still clinging on for dear life with this franchise and I hope they give me something more to hang on to before I start recording Seinfeld reruns over Lightning games.

Technorati Tags: Barry Melrose, Dan Boyle, Grant Hill, Jerry Seinfeld, Jon Gruden, Oren Koules, Orlando Magic, Rick Tocchet, Super Bowl, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Tampa Bay Lightning, Tampa Bay Rays, Vinny Lecavalier

The Bolts have been a bad team for a couple seasons now and they have become a laughing stock inside the NHL with the circus that they created since acquired by Oren Koules. They are playing better lately but still aren’t anywhere close to the realm of contention and yet I still believe they will be soon. Why? I have come up with some reasons, though they may be lame, and I’ll lay them out for you.

• I like Rick Tocchet. He has the kind of personality that makes you believe he’s got things going in the right direction. He’s a disciplinarian but he seems to have a good relationship with his players and that shows the type of people skills you want in a coach and the team plays hard for him. We’ll see if his plan works, but I like him up top for now.
• We still have Marty and Vinny. Anytime a team has two scoring machines like these guys, they could get hot and jump into contention any minute. Vinny has been hampered with a bad shoulder and looks to have lost something, but he’s not old and I think we all believe he’ll take off at some point. The problem with that statement by itself is that we all have been sort of waiting for the huge season since his arrival. Vinny works hard and has a good attitude but it seems like he’s content with being a star and not a superstar. Vinny has never put together one of those seasons where he just completely distances himself from the rest of the pack and yet for some reason we still believe he will. Puzzler. Marty is Marty and there’s no denying what he is, the ultimate hockey player in someone else’s body. Hope carries us here.
• The defense and goaltenders have showed improvement. There have been a couple solid performances but it hasn’t been consistent enough yet to say they get it, but they look to be on their way. We’re all waiting for them to show more than flashes of it, but the spurts give us hope.

All in all, we may have just overrated this team the last couple years and that’s why we’ve been disappointed and they just are what they are, but I still take the road of optimism here. Even in laying these points out I’m not convinced myself, but every time I watch this team I think it’s coming. They head to Phoenix for a tough one tomorrow so maybe the good team will show and give us more hope. If not, maybe I just need to drink more when watching this club.

Technorati Tags: Martin St. Louis, Oren Koules, Phoenix Coyotes, Rick Tocchet, Tampa Bay Lightning, Vinny Lecavalier

I’m currently working on some player cards for the site. These are going to be short bio type things with basic info and a short opinion of what we think of the players on our beloved teams that we cover. I’m not a fan of profiles or anything like that because I’m not a journalist, I’m just a guy writing about things I love. I’m having a hard time currently with trying to put stats to them so if I can’t figure it out I’ll just put a link to the players stats in the post. These will be done randomly and for teams in their off-season as they’re easier to track, so for now we’ll be working on Rays and Buc players and the Lightning and Magic players will be done when their seasons are over. Post any ideas you may have in the comments of this post and I’ll have the first one out this evening.

Technorati Tags: Orlando Magic, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Tampa Bay Lightning, Tampa Bay Rays

Martin St. Louis might well be the smallest player in the NHL, but he’s got more heart than anyone playing today. The Bolts have stepped up their game and have wiggled their way out of the bottom of the Southeastern Division of the Eastern Conference. This is no coincidence to me either that the Lightning have gone 4-2-1 since December 21 st.

That date is significant to Bolts fans because that was the day that Marty finally came out and said what we all have been thinking. St. Louis came out after a 4-3 to Atlanta and gave reporters the profanity laced tirade that they dream of getting when entering the locker room of a bad team. Marty questioned the heart of his teammates and called some “clock killers” as his frustration boiled over for the first time this season.

The great part of this was that it was little Martin St. Louis, the guy who outplays most everyone on the ice every time he suits up, with eight stitches in his face. It was spontaneous and necessary. The team seems to have responded and has played well since. Marty is not the Captain here but, in my opinion, he should be. No disrespect to Vinny here, but Lecavalier’s nonchalant attitude and playing style doesn’t translate well when you talk about being a team leader.

Vinny showed some fire when he went after Matt Cooke (who bitched out), the guy who hurt Vinny while with the Capitals last year. That was a great thing for Vinny to do, but Marty shows that kind of tenacity on a nightly basis and Vinny can’t say that. Now I’m not trying to dog out Vinny, I’m just saying that he should at least be sharing the Captain role with the guy who shows and proves every day.

Technorati Tags: Atlanta Thrashers, Martin St. Louis, Matt Cooke, Tampa Bay Lightning, Vinny Lecavalier, Washington Capitals

The Bolts have been the cellar dwellers of Tampa Bay for over a year now and things weren’t looking too good going forward. Starting the month of December the Lightning were 4-10-7 and things were looking as ugly as ever throughout the organization. The USF Bulls were 7-5 and were possibly the most disappointing team in Tampa as much bigger things were expected for them. The Bucs were 9-3 and seemingly on their way to a division title, much less a playoff birth. Fast forward to today and the Bulls capped off the month with a 41-14 win over Memphis in the St. Pete Bowl to help take the sting out of a hugely disappointing season. The Bucs pulled the ultimate choke job by going 0-4 and missing the playoffs after losing to a dismal Oakland Raider team.

The Bolts have gone 4-6-2 to this point, not great I know, but after stringing off three straight wins, look much better than they did a month ago. Now don’t get me wrong, the Lightning still are holding the crown of worst in Tampa, but after a home and away sweep of Florida and a 2-0 shutout win on the road against a very good Pittsburg Penguin team, there is a glimmer of hope for the first time in a long time for this team. The defense is still allowing too many shots on goal, but is getting better. The offense has come alive as Vinny and Marty have begun to light up the nets a little and  look much more fluid on the ice than they have all season.

As stated already, they are still the worst in Tampa, but they may not hold that title for too much longer if they keep up with these strange winning ways. They finish off the month of December at home against the Montreal Canadiens and could be starting the new year off on the right foot as the season rolls on. If the Lightning can pull themselves out of the bottom of the heap and even raise themselves into playoff contention, the argument could leave the Bulls and Bucs battling it out for worst in show here. It would be nice to see that happen.

Technorati Tags: Florida Panthers, Martin St. Louis, Memphis Tigers, Montreal Canadiens, Oakland Raiders, Pittsburg Penguins, St. Petersburg Bowl, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Tampa Bay Lightning, USF Bulls, Vinny Lecavalier

Sorry for the lack of posts everyone. My sister is in town and it’s a huge family thing that’s leaving little to no time to post. It doesn’t help that I have a 10 day stretch going with my job and won’t have a day off until Christmas. There’s a lot to catch up on with the Bucs essentially playing their way out of the playoffs, the Lightning still being awful (and St. Louis finally going off) and the Magic still playing great. I’ll try to get something out tonight and over the next couple days but we’re probably going to have to do some Christmas day catch up. I encourage everyone out there to check out the Magic game tonight. I know not everyone is into basketball, but they are an extremely fun team to watch and are the closest thing we’ve got to a home town team.

Technorati Tags: Orlando Magic, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Tampa Bay Lightning, Tampa Bay Rays

I’m glad the Bolts didn’t tease us too much by winning again. I was wondering how they would follow up that win in Montreal and they took all the drama out of it real quick. They came out flat and never got anything going in their 2-0 shutout loss in Ottawa. I guess Vinny and Marty needed a break after scoring and the rest of the team must have stayed in Montreal celebrating their last win. Mike Smith played very well, stopping 31 of 32 shots on goal, but didn’t got nooffensive help throughout the game. He can’t do it alone and that’s the position got put into on Saturday night. The next game is Thursday night at home against Colorado. What’s the deal with the weirdo schedule in the NHL by the way. Five days off between games? The NHL is running itself into the ground with all this strange crap that they do and it’s sad to see such a great sport being mismanaged in this way. I’m going to try to make it to the game Thursday and get a feel from some of the fans to see how they view this franchise right now. I know I don’t have much confidence in this group right now and I’m not seeing any end to this crap in the near future either.

Technorati Tags: Colorado Avalanche, Martin St. Louis, Mike Smith, Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators, Tampa Bay Lightning, Vinny Lecavalier

The Bolts must have taken all the Barry Melrose crap to heart as they finally decided to play some Hockey tonight. They came out fired up on the road and scored twice in the first period behind goals from Marty and Vinny to take a 2-1 lead. That’s all Olaf Kolzig needed tonight as he looked very good stopping 31 of 32 shots against a good Canadiens team. These are the types of performances we hoped to get from the veteran goalie when he signed and he delivered tonight. Marty added a second goal in the second period to put the Bolts up 3-1 and that’s how it would end. At this point we’re all just looking for anything positive from this team and they gave us something to grab onto, even if it’s just for a minute. I would still like to see the defense give up less shots and the offense shoot more, I know I’ve said it before, but I’ll take any win we can get right now. Winning 3-1 while getting outshot 32 to 22 is good enough, but it’s not gonna get you very far. Maybe Marty and Vinny can start putting the offense together now that we know they’re capable of and that would bleed out to the rest of the team in every aspect. It would be a lot easier to play defense with the offense being more aggressive and the goaltending would then become better also. Ok, I’ll stop with the negativity and take the win.

Technorati Tags: Barry Melrose, Martin St. Louis, Montreal Canadiens, Olaf Kolzig, Tampa Bay Lightning, Vinny Lecavalier

Ok, this is going to be a long one as I try to catch up with the mess that is the Tampa Bay Lightning but I’ll do my best to keep it short. I’ll do it in bullets to try and make it easier to follow my rambling. Before the bullet points I’ll point out that the Bolts lost again and the toll is now at 8 straight win-less games. This team does suck right now. Let’s get to it.

• Radim Vrbata requested to go back to his native Czech Republic for “personal reasons” and the Bolts are relieved of his duties and contract for this year. I don’t know what his personal reasons are and, as you know, I don’t get into that but I am left wondering if he would still want to do this if the team were doing well. In the linked article Vrbata’s agent explains good reasons for Radim to request this but it still leaves me dumbfounded. If the team were good I don’t believe this would’ve happened. It’s explained that this relieves the Lightning of the $3 million owed to Vrbata for this season but he gets re-assigned to the Lightning in the summer and they will need to deal with it then. Small problem within larger ones for this messed up squad right now so I won’t dwell on this.

Barry Melrose is a bitter, scorned woman. There’s no other way to put this. He sounds like a whiny bitch now. Let’s try to analyze what he said.

• First Melrose says that ownership fired him because he wouldn’t let them run the team. He says he wasn’t playing the right guys enough and other guys too much. Ok Barry, is ownership not supposed to question what you were doing with their team when you were losing?! You didn’t have anything going in the right direction and everyone, including you, knew that these were going to be hands on owners from the get go. Why shouldn’t they question your decisions when your losing? I’m not defending ownership completely here, but if Melrose claims ignorance here by implying that he didn’t realize that ownership would be involved, he’s dumber than I thought he was.
• Then he says that Rick Tocchet is a puppet for ownership and that they are actually coaching the team. Why aren’t they in the coaches box then Barry? We’ve all seen controlling owners in sports, Daniel Snyder, Mark Cuban, etc., but they don’t call plays. They don’t call line changes, teach defense and they damn sure don’t make in game adjustments. That’s all on the coaches. Now I’m not saying that Tocchet is doing a better job than you Barry, but how can you call him a puppet if you kept the job with them doing the same thing to both of you? Last I checked, you got fired. If you didn’t want to be a puppet you would’ve quit because they were interfering too much, wouldn’t you have tough guy?
• He says that Steven Stamkos isn’t ready for the NHL and he shouldn’t be playing. Again, how come you played him then Barry? It’s not like you said this while you were here. You were one of the guys praising him and his talent. I agree that Stamkos isn’t ready for the NHL, but you can’t say that if you played him and want to pretend that you weren’t a puppet for ownership at the same time. You did the same thing Tocchet is doing, you just have no people skills, which leads to the final point.
• Barry Melrose says that he never got close with any of the players here. Was that ownerships fault too? Did they tell you not to spend time with the players? Did they tell you not to have conversations with guys at practice? Did they tell you that you had to coach guys but never get to know them? No, Barry. This was completely your fault. I could see the owners being controlling, forcing the issue with the highly touted draft pick, even telling you to tread lightly with certain things. I can guarantee all of you that no one told this jerk to not get to know any of the players. That’s all you Barry, and that’s why you got fired. The players probably complained about you because you didn’t get to know any of them and that’s why you didn’t know what any of them were capable of. This is where the scorned woman thing comes in. You sound like the woman that can’t understand why her boyfriend cheated on her. Maybe it was you, maybe he’s just one of those assholes who has to do that, either way, there’s nothing to figure out. It’s over. Move on and find something better. When you got hired here there was a general feeling that you didn’t really want to coach again because you enjoyed being an analyst and were done coaching because you wanted to be. You’re telling us all now that you have always wanted to coach and are pissed off now because you can’t. You conned Oren Koules into believing that you were a good coach who just wanted to be an analyst now and it would take a lot to make you come back. We see now that no one wanted you to coach and that’s why you’ve been an analyst for all these years. If that’s not true then why do you care so much what a messed up ownership group did to you so early in a bad season? You know what Barry, I don’t care if the Lightning lose every game for the rest of the year (as you want them to do you petty bitch), I’m just happy you’re gone. I, Scott Brannelly, call you a bitch. You’re a sorry excuse for a man who wasn’t tough enough to play or coach hockey and I would happily tell you that to your face if you were man enough to meet me.

Ok, last points and I’ll be quick. Rick Tocchet and Steven Stamkos both responded to the idiot Barry Melrose but I’m not going to cover it. If you want to read them you can click here and here. Tocchet doesn’t need to respond because his reputation far exceeds Melrose’s and it doesn’t matter anyway. He’s the coach and he’s got to try and fix a very bad team, tough enough problem as it is. Stamkos doesn’t need to respond because he’s a kid and he just has to worry about playing as well as he can. They both had good responses but they weren’t necessary. Melrose is a stupid bitch and nothing he says matters now anyway. Nothing else really matters within all this, Melrose is a jackass and removing him was the right move. I’ll dog out ownership for the consistently stupid moves that they’ve made since arriving (Melrose being one) but at least they corrected that mistake. Tocchet may not be the right guy, but it doesn’t matter. Stamkos may end up being a bust, but that doesn’t matter right now either. The team sucks right now and I’ll continue bashing them for that, but Barry Melrose is gone and I know I’ll be happy about that regardless of the end result of this season. The woman who wears bad suits will probably not shut up, especially if the Lightning keep losing, but this is the last time I’ll talk about his sorry ass.

Technorati Tags: Barry Melrose, Daniel Snyder, Mark Cuban, Oren Koules, Radim Vrbata, Rick Tocchet, Scott Brannelly, Steven Stamkos, Tampa Bay Lightning

Has it gotten so bad over at the Forum that we celebrate the ridiculous overtime loss? I heard a couple people tell me the other day “the Bolts aren’t doing so bad, we lead the league in overtime losses”. Holy shit! How has it come to this? This team has become a chaotic nightmare of players skating aimlessly around with no passion or direction, coaches being fired and management trading players like bad stocks. The Lightning were bad last year but at least we could take solace in the thought that coach Tortorella had been there before and could right the ship with time. His time ran out and Jay Feaster’s did as well. Wait, if you stop and listen very carefully, you can hear them laughing. Do you hear it? I hope that they don’t hurt themselves with the uncontrollable laughing fits that must take place when these guys watch the Lightning play. Oh, you know they’re watching and enjoying every minute of it. Can you blame them? They engineered our Stanley Cup championship and were shown the door like they were a bad one night stand. Oren Koules and his henchmen are off to a terrible start with this franchise and should be ashamed for all they have done to this point. I don’t recall much about the old Lightning team’s we had but this team is well on it’s way to competing with some of the worst we have ever had. I’m about ready to start taking bets that we’ll make more trades than get wins in the rest of the season. Anyone willing to take me up on that one? How ’bout more overtime losses than wins, oh wait, they already do. There’s a home game on Saturday followed by four road games in six days next week, that should be fun huh? Can’t wait!

Technorati Tags: Jay Feaster, John Tortorella, Oren Koules, Tampa Bay Lightning

   Well, how do I sum up the games the Bolts have played since I last discussed them? Oh yeah, they still suck! In the last post we had the Lightning had just got beat up by the Devils. Since then they have lost four straight to the Rangers, Wild, Avalanche and Flyers. This streak includes two OT losses which, as we all know by now, just makes me laugh. We get more points for taking longer to lose, yay! Stupid. I had thought that this team was too talented to be this bad, but I’m starting to believe that this team just isn’t that talented. St. Louis hasn’t contributed the way he can and the Bolts only have seven guys with double digit points. Now I’m not singling out Marty, he’s not the problem, I’m saying that the whole team is flat terrible right now. They look lost all over the ice and it doesn’t help that the front office looks just as confused about what they’re doing also. We seem to make a trade once a week, all the while the team just keeps going through the motions a looking like they just don’t care. The funny part now is that we see that Melrose was just the face of the circus, not the ring leader. I’ll keep my fingers crossed but it looks like it’s going to be a long, bad year for all of us involved with this team. Keep the liquor cabinet full if you plan to watch this team.

Technorati Tags: Barry Melrose, Colorado Avalanche, Martin St. Louis, Minnesota Wild, New Jersey Devils, New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers, Tampa Bay Lightning

   Man that was brutal. Olaf Kolzig got beat down quickly and the Bolts didn’t stand a chance from there. The Lightning looked bad in every way giving up 5 goals before answering with 3 quick scores in the second. Vrbata, St. Louis and Malone did what they could to get the Bolts back in the game, but it was too little too late. They were outshot again 45-29 and the Devils eased up on them late. There is no breaking this down, the Lightning absolutely sucked last night! The offense can’t hang on to the puck, they flail shots with no direction and mishandle the puck way too much. The defense is atrocious, leaving holes all over, not pressuring the puck handler and let Kolzig get beat up on. Kolzig looked slow and out of it and did nothing to secure his position as temp starter while Mike Smith is out. Kari Ramo came in and did an adequate job in mopping up this mess, but the rest of the team needs to fix itself before any goalie will be able to succeed here. Smith has been coming on and Kolzig knows what he’s doing back there, but if the rest of the team skates around like they’re in the Ice-Capades and not the NHL, we’ll all be praying for more OVERTIME LOSSES! It was an embarrassing showing at home and these guys should be ashamed to go out in public right now. Melrose and Torts are gone, can you play well for anyone!? Don’t get us excited with wins if you’re going to come out and get your ass whooped the next night out. This team has too much talent to get beat like this. Stop sucking and play some GD hockey!

Technorati Tags: Barry Melrose, John Tortorella, Karri Ramo, Martin St. Louis, Mike Smith, New Jersey Devils, Olaf Kolzig, Radim Vrbata, Ryan Malone, Tampa Bay Lightning