I can’t exactly say the pregame ceremony was a fleeting instance and the team returned to business and la-de-da. Tampa Bay unveiled the 2003-04 Stanley Cup Championship banner before the game and it’s a huge piece of fabric, to say the least, and untraditional in it’s design - displaying the Cup predominantly and the Lightning crest int he upper right hand corner.

Before the banner was raised, the Cup was paraded through the stands by it’s keepers and brought down onto the ice for one more moment of triumph in what will probably go down as the longest ownership of the Cup in league history.

It was raised, there was rejoicing and the Lightning moved on quickly as Ruslan Fedotenko turned what looked like a clearing by Carolina into a a pass to Vaclav Prospal sitting in front of the Carolina Net. Notch one at 1:21 of the first…

…The Brad Richards got intot he act on a Five on three powerplay….

….Then Dan Boyle decided to join the fray with the help of Prospal, Fedotenko and Lecavalier.

It was 3-1 after the first and the Lightning were cruising. The fans were quite in the game at that point and cheering for everything…

Carolina shut them up early in the 2nd as Eric Staal scored 54 seconds into the 2nd. That, or you can blame SunSports TV for having audio difficulties, take your pick (and either reasoning would be legit).

Yet did the Bolts roll over the and die? Did the US roll over and die after the Germans attacked Pearl Harbor (bless you, Animal House)? Nooooooooo. Of coruse not! And seeing one Vinny was already on the board - the other Vinny had make a name for himself too tonight as Lecavalier notched #1 on the season and put the Lightning back up by a deuce.

Prospal had 3 points on the night are 81 games from the possibility of another CUp run… Just like everyone else.

…Carolina vs. Tampa Bay is not the only hockey game tonight

Seriously, I’ve focused squarely on the Lightning for a matter of weeks now because of how chaotic things have been with the league since the new CBA was ratified.

The Great One, Wayne Gretzky, makes his coaching debut with the Phoenix Coyotes as they square off with the Canucks . Wayne and the Coyotes have had an abysmal pre-season… But as I’ve said a lot lately: it don’t mean jack. It’s a very difficult time, as well, to be making your coaching debut in this league as the rules that were standards for a long time are now out the door.

After much hubaloo during 2003-04 season, during the lockout and leading up to the draft, Sidney Crosby finally graces the National Hockey League tonight as the Penguins take on the Devils in the Swamps of Jersey. Speaking of the Next One, everyone’s favorite neurotic and birlliant blogger, Jes Golbez, has started his own Crosby Blog. Go there to see more on Sidney’s baptism into the NHL.

Our Pass The Friggin’ Torch brethren, the Calgary Flames, open in St. Paul tonight vs. the Wild. Talk about disrespecting the C of Red…

My god, it feels like years since we had all these NHL quality games on the schedule and…

Oh wait, it has been, never mind…

Tune in early — 6:30 PM EDT — for full coverage of opening night at Times Palace on Sun Sports TV (and for those who have missed it — Sun Sports is Sunshine Network, simply with a new name).

Sun Sports will air a special live, one-hour pre-game show prior to the game tonight and will have complete coverage of all the festivities surrounding the raising of the banner, not just cut-ins.

The reborn NHL begins now, and your Tampa Bay Lightning take the ice. For those not attending the game - this thread is for you… Feel free to use the comments and talk up the game and thoughts for the season.

I bitched and they’ve responded…

Tampa Bay Lightning.com has finally been revamped… This version of the site DOES work in Firefox (at least from first glance), and much more user friendly.

Hats off to the Bolts for upgrading… Now listen to David Singer and start thinking about RSS…

And for those of you who are curious who is supposed to start between the pipes tonight, John Tortorella was on WDAE with Steve Demuig yesterday and said Grahame would be the man for tonight.

When we last left our heroes, they were amid throes of victory and rejoicing. Operation: Andreychuk’s Cup had been a success and David was asked, as if he needed direction, to come get his Stanley Cup by Commissioner Gary Bettman. The Cup was secured as the possession of the franchise for the duration of the off season and fans across the region proudly and fondly reposed in that that knowledge.

Then all hell broke loose…

To summarize, the 2004-05 National Hockey League season was killed by any and all of the following words in no particular order: stubbornness, thoughtlessness, greed, tactlessness, cluelessness, incompetence, greed, grubbing, strife, anarchy, deranged thoughts, heartlessness, out-of-touchness, stupidity, greed, discombobulations, bickering, cruelty, squabbling, disinformation, lying, brown-nosing, groveling, friction, disunity, disloyalty, havoc, idiocy, gluttony, selfishness, distortions, incompatibility, partisan politics of a business variety, hate, small minds, big pockets, money grubbing and greed.

Did I say greed? Did I say it enough?

OK, now you have all these words that played out in various forms over months and months on end - any one of those words can be used to describe any number of people or situations that have passed over a year time span and basically helped screw the fans. Every fan.

Every.

Single.

One.

But pay no heed to that now, for it is over and done with. That’s old news, old thoughts, old concerns. Push it to the back of your mind because it don’t mean jack no more. New news? New rules, new regulations, new jerseys, new finances, new hopes, new league logo, new national TV stations, new dreamers, new schedules, new contracts, new concerns…

Yet the reigning champions remain the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The banner goes up - finally - tonight in the much overdue return of NHL hockey to Times Palace! Tonight is our Epiphany and also our last chance to immerse ourselves in the improbable but indomitably awesome spectacle that was the Tampa Bay Lightning’s 2003-04 season.

From here on in, for this team, having won in 2003-04 doesn’t mean jack. Old news - sweep it under the rug because we’re done with it. They did it - now forget it, because that’s one hellaciously long climb in front of this team and just like every other franchise in this National Hockey League. The Lightning start from the bottom rung of the ladder and will have work their way up to the top if they have any dreams of repeating.

And that’s an improbably climb. Improbable - not impossible.

It’s a year in the making, ladies and gents, it’s Opening night! Dust off your jersey, get the ballcap out of the drawer and go grab a cold one! Your champions, the Tampa Bay Lightning, are finally set to return!

The Cup defense begins NOW!