Welcome back Bolts nation. We talked to some of the players who may not have performed the trademark Anchorman jump to celebrate the occasion, but had some very excited emotions just the same.
With adrenaline rushing, fans have been buying seats to make each and every game a sellout, while players have been fighting off theirs, giving fans the entertainment they were deprived from. But what’s hockey without a few missing teeth? With referees giving out multiple 10 minute misconduct penalties with only nine seconds left of the game against the Senators, the season continues to get rougher from there as three fights broke out within the first 10 minutes when playing the Flyers.
This past weekend, two tight games took place against the Ottawa Senators and the Philadelphia Flyers with the Lightning winning both. The opportunity was presented to ask both Lightning and Flyers players what their reactions were to the end of the lockout as well as what some of their lockout breaks held.
Forward Ryan Malone spent his summer and break with “his boys” and also his family which he said was very nice.
“My reaction was saying ‘finally,’ and then I realized I had about 14 days to get ready,” said Malone. “Everyone was excited and we all thought it could have been resolved a long time ago, but we’re all happy to be back on the ice and obviously the fans make it even better.”
While many of the Flyers players showed off their lockout beards, they were elated as well to be back. Forward Danny Briere said the first thing he did was text his sons and told them the news. “My kids were happy about it, but so was I,” Briere said. “Big smiles everywhere in my house, I was happy to be home. At the time, I was waiting to go back to Germany, but it’s nice to stay home.”
Teammate Mike Knuble who recently signed with the Flyers felt the pain of the fans.
“We could sense that there was a brewing and it was coming to an end,” Knuble said. “They wouldn’t cancel two years in a row. We’ve been led down that road many times and a lot of people went to bed when nothing was building, unfortunately most being the fans, so waking up on that Sunday, guys were pretty happy about it.”
For the Lightning, team favorite forward Steven Stamkos, also known as Stammer, never seemed to stop playing from the moment their season ended last year.
“During the break I got to play hockey with my dad and spend time with people in Toronto,” said Stamkos. I was shoveling snow, which was cool at first; I hadn’t been around snow for a while, but I knew I’d much rather be here playing hockey. You don’t realize how much you miss the game until it’s actually gone, so when I found out the news, I was screaming on the inside. I’m really happy to be back.”
The Lightning have a strong future ahead according to their Head Coach.
“We’re doing good things, but we’re not good yet,” Coach Guy Boucher said.