It’s nice to trounce your “rivals” as the Lightning did tonight with a 5-0 Shutout… But there was a bigger feat in Tampa Bay sports that this entry will be devoted to…

The University of South Florida came of age tonight… In it’s first game in the Big East versus top ten ranked Louisville, the Bulls overcame the Cardinals offense and staked it’s claim in both the Big East and college football rankings with a 45-14 win. Both timely defense and timely penalties played their part in the Bulls taking down the Cards…

But, don’t rejoice for two long… South Florida is headed to South Florida to face the Hurricanes next weekend and this victory will be short lived.

For those who want to WATCH the game live… Arenavision is still broadcasting at this moment (mid 1st period).

Not the easiest to follow everything but it’s better than nothing

EDIT: And no sooner than this gets published, the Arenavision feed is turned off. Bah!

Yes, it’s only the pre-season…

Yes, it matters worth nothing at all…

But tonight, for the first time since defeating the Calgary Flames in game seven of the 2003-04 Stanley Cup Finals, the Tampa Bay Lightning will take to the ice at the St. Pete Times Forum where they will face off against the Florida Panthers.

It’s the first of ten meetings between these two squads (2 pre-season matchups and 8 regular season matchups) and of course - it being pre-season - there are plenty of tickets availible for tonights game. $20 dollar donations to the Red Cross thru Ticketmaster gets you a seat… (and from what I’ve heard of ticket sals, there will not be many other opportunities to grab prime seats this cheaply durign the regular season).

John Tortorella plans to play most of his starts tonight and Sean Burke will be in goal…

And there’s just a chance that Arenavision may still be up and running during the game so keep that in mind around 7:30 tonight…