I can’t watch…. I can’t watch…. I can’t watch. This is NOT the way to re-start the season.

6-0 Panthers in the 2nd. Someone please get me when the Lightning return from Turin?

Did a little standings-reading last night just to get re-acquainted with this… thing known as the NHL. Carolina is sitting pretty on top of the the Eastern Conference right now (82 points) and has a commanding lead over the Lightning (68) in the Southeast (14 points).

They need 10 points to wrap this thing up… The Lightning are almost assured a second place finish, but it’d be one to remember for the ages if they ran the board to close out the season. Not going to happen of course…

Welcome back to NHL action… They’ll be rockin’ at Times Palace momentarily as the Lightning square off against in-state nemesis, the Florida Panthers. Last time these two teams met, I was left shocked and awed… It’s time to shake off the rust and put on skates, put up your dukes and check your jock strap. The Run hath come undone by the Olympic break. It’s time for the Lightning to Dash.

You’ve probably ntoiced the enforcer poll at left, I hinted about it last week and I thank everyone for their input…

So who’s tops and who’s bottoms? Has it been so long that people have forgotten Chico? How does Gordie Dwyer rank, even though he played during the Bolts lean years?

Big thanks go out to reader Joshua Bernard who sent in this desktop wallpaper image to Boltsmag:

And of course, I’ve crafted a new wallpaper in homage to the Lightning’s sweet Swede:

Both images are also part of the Wallpaper Page.

He done won gold!

It would seem that
John Tortorella isn’t much for the Lightning’s presence in the Olympics:

“I don’t care what people think about it, whether it’s against your country or this, that and the other thing,” Tortorella said. “That’s not in my mind. My mind is with the Tampa Bay Lightning. That’s our job at hand here. If we get a player back early, I’m happy about it.

That was yesterday’s St. Pete Times… Today’s has Torts continuing his comments putting down the Olympic break:

“I don’t agree with the setup here as far as taking players from the National Hockey League season, in the middle of the year, and going over there,” Tortorella said. “I don’t care if it’s once every four years or once every six years or once every 10 years. This is our job. This is our domain and it shouldn’t be interrupted.”

I really side with Tortorella on this.

People have had it in their mind that professional players taking part in the Olympic Games is a must since the 1992 Olympics and the USA Men’s Basketball “Dream Team” took to the court. There was hype, there was hope and there was a financial windfall on a world scale for the NBA afterwards.

Yes the difference between The NBA Dream Team, the NHL’s participation in the Olympics and even Major League Baseball committing any personnel to games in the past (be they minor league players or coaches) was that the NHL and MLB are in the middle of their seasons when the games take place. THey are paid to be part of the NHL or MLB - not to take part in a tournament during the season.

They hype and the windfall haven’t been there for either league, MLB has been dropped from the Olympics and the NHL — which was already facing the uphill climb of winning back fans after a year long work stoppage — couldn’t have had the Olympics come up at a worse time.

Of course, some saw this as a great opportunity to win back fans and saw this as a must participation… But how is this a must if it further compromises the game both scheduling, injury risk and other factors that don’t jump to my mind immediately while writing this)? The NHL’s focus needed to be on the NHL this season and not on the global market — even if the NHLPA bitched and whined for Turin participation.

I’m not anti-Olympics… But I am questioning sending pros to the games. Argue about playing with heart if you want, argue about representing your country… Players on NHL squads are paid to take part in the NHL, not the Olympics. Their focus is on the NHL and that influences performance. Did anyone see Vaclav Prospal deliberately pass on a check of Vinny Lecavalier during the Czech Republic vs. Canada game? That shows you where Prospal’s priorities are…

John Romano’s got soem choice words for the US Hockey team:

What an embarrassment.

Oh, the team put on a show in the final minutes of its 4-3 quarterfinal loss to Finland. It looked gritty. It looked determined.

And when it was over, it looked beaten. Just as it had since it arrived in Italy.

26 years since the Miracle On Ice and the US team has no direction but blah.

…the REAL “Next One” has made the biggest statement of his young career sus far.

Alexander Ovechkin helped send Team Canada back to North America as Team Russia beat the defending Olympic Champions 2-0. This is a continuation of a bizzare year in hockey as Canada will not be playing in the semifinals for the first time since NHL players started to take part in the Olympics in 1998.

And my final thought on this is — what affect will thsi have on the NHL season when it resumes? Will we see more aggressiv eplay from stars with a chip on their shoulder? Or will we see bellyaching and sluggishness from players whose morale was hurt in this loss?

I’m planning on doing a poll in the near future about Lightning enforcers and then I hit a rough spot — who has been an enforcer for Tampa Bay sinc etheir inception? I mean, certain names stand up right away (Enrico Ciccone, Rudy Poeschek) while others escape me or make me shake my head at the thought “this guy was supposed to be an enforcer?” (Matthew Barnaby)

So, if you don’t mind giving me a response through comments - who are some of the tough guys that come to mind in the history of the Lightning?

This will come as no shock for those who are season ticket holders for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers:

Bucs: Bucs raise ticket prices

The Buccaneers announced ticket prices for the 2006 season, raising them $1 to $6 per ticket.

Typical day at the office for the Glazer family…