Well, either the NHL thinks highly of the Tampa Bay Lightning or they’re trying to get even with us for something or other…

There’s a news piece out of Pittsburgh (covered here by TSN.ca) stating the NHL is interested in having the Lightning and the Pittsburgh Penguins open the 2008-09 campaign in Prague, Czech Republic.

Of course, there’s also this bit that shows you how much I’m reading the sports section these days:

A Lightning official confirmed in Sunday’s St. Petersburg Times that the Florida team has been approached by the league for participation.

Lightning vs. Penguins and vice versa is a thrilling match-up when both teams are playing up to their potential. It’s also a superb marketing tool. The only problem I see is, well, Gary and company? You guys still do a shit job marketing in the US — let alone in Europe. I know you need to make the NHL a global product but you also need to strengthen your exposure at home. Just saying…

I’ve been trying to focus on some responsibilities away from Boltsmag… Yesterday was a day especially where I was focusing away from the site and hockey in general.

Keith, my Calgary Flames fan friend, dropped an email to me that Bill Wirtz had died. It wasn’t a matter-of-fact email, it was a quip.

And yet reading the news piece itself, all I could do was smirk. The true “Dollar Bill” of hockey and his anal, tightwad, ancient ways were no longer going to rule the Chicago Blackhawk franchise… His grip on NHL leadership is gone.

Bill Wirtz reputation as an owner is comparable to Hugh Culverhouse and Bill Bidwell of the NFL (Culverhouse, since passed, was Tampa Bay Buccaneers owner — and a tightwad himself while pledging millions for philanthropic causes)… Wirtz had control of one of the Original Six NHL franchises and ran it into the ground — milking the team for what money he could get, alienating the fanbase and making the Blackhawks irrelevant in the hockey world. He didn’t just alienate fans but turned of generations of midwesterners to what should be one of the marquee franchises of pro sports.

Bill Wirtz is dead, and all I can do is smirk. This overlooks the mans own philanthropic deeds and how it improved lives (though I do not know what he has given to or who he has supported with his money). Just as well, his legacy for me will be handcuffing the ‘Hawks.

So Dan Boyle is out 3-6 weeks after a skate-cut injury at his locker. How much pressure this puts on Jay Feaster to go out and add veteran blue line depth to the roster remains to be seen but Boyle will certainly miss the opener and first weeks of the season.

This also gives the Lightning minor leaguers and prospects more of a reason to state a case to stay in Tampa Bay. The number 5 and 6 defensive roles will be open… That is, unless Jay acts and I could very well see him doing so unless money (through additional signings) for the team is frozen until the sale of the franchise is complete.

…well, technically.

Local Attorney Steve Burton will be joining the investor list of Absolute Hockey Inc, the group trying to purchase the Bolts. Burton is a friend of Jeff Sherrin (who along with Doug Maclean and Oren Koules) are the founding members of Absolute Hockey).

Red Tide News has been a local source for football, snark and satire regarding the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the NFL. It’s undergone lots of changes over the years (along with quite a few missing-in-action periods where the site founder goes… well, MIA) but it’s still out there on them fancy fangled intertubes. Recently re-designed (and if you’d like to check out previous designs and previous stories, use the Way Back Machine) and relaunched, the local granddaddy of blogs and sports satire mainstay remains a standard for hilarity.

Since 1999, Red Tide News has been one of many, many destinations on the Internets. Once a powerful beacon of the Tampa Bay Buccaneer hooligan scene, RTN has over the years transformed into a somewhat less-powerful beacon for sports fans in Tampa Bay, bored cubicle-workers in Tampa Bay, and confused marine biologists looking for information about the algal bloom commonly referred to as red tide.

You can read more on the About page or perhaps you can just dive in and check things out yourself. There isn’t so much right now, but that’s due to the switch over.

Here’s the “more details to follow” I promised in the original Mustangs post. From the mouth of Georgeann:

Right now the banquet is set for October 14 at 4pm, tickets are $20.00. Place: Seven Springs Country Club - on the Website people can put in their address and it will give them directions right to the front door. It is being catered by Carrabas Italian Grill. Menu Chicken Marsala, Pasta Pomodoro and Salad. Dessert is being provided by Publix. There will be a cash bar provided for all beverages other than water or ice tea. There will be a 50/50 raffle, we have various gift baskets ex: wine, Chocolates by Michele, etc. Gift cards to Lowes, a tailgating grill donated by Home Depot, 2 months of free karate lessons, various restaurant certificates, etc will also be raffled. Our Silent Auction will be run by Sports Stop. Bid prices for things will start at $1.00 - $100.00 for the sports memorabilia they supply and the lightning organization has promised us signed Lightning memorabilia. We are trying to get a guest speaker but nothing has been confirmed yet. Our backup speaker is Dave Cole, Director of Fan Development and President of the Lightning Conference High School League. The team is trying to raise money to play for the season. It cost $23,000.00 to play, we are a start up team so it is costing us more than a team that is already established and some of the players need to get new equipment.

Can anyone lend a hand or contribute a few bucks? Check out the Mitchell Mustangs Ice Hockey page for more information.

(Writers note here: I’m no way tied or affiliated with the Mustangs but I am trying to promote local prep hockey in general.)

The St. Petersburg Times blog The Heater brings you the leaked supposedly new Rays logo, colors and uniform.

My gut reaction is that I liked the green (which many people around baseball ridiculed) and that this new logo is a mix and match reminder of various logos from around the MLB world. It reminds me mostly of various San Diego Padres logo elements since 1991, it reminds me of the Milwaukee Brewers, it reminds me of the California Angels before they became Disney-fied in the 1990’s and reminds me of the Florida Marlins somehow).

Are they bad? Arguable. Are they good? Arguable. Will I go out and buy a ballcap? Not until the team shows more promise than a few games a season. That’s been my mantra since 1998 and it hasn’t yet changed.

The Florida High School Athletics Association doesn’t sanction or recognize interscholastic Ice Hockey in Florida high schools. Bay areas counties also ignore the sport and the fact that there are indeed local high school teams that field teams.

So, hockey fans, would you like to step up and support for a local prep hockey team?

One of Boltsmag’s longtime readers and participants on the site asked for some exposure for the high school program she is working with, J.W. Mitchell High School in the Trinity area in Pasco County and their Mitchell Mustang Ice Hockey team. The Mustangs are having a banquet, raffle and silent auction on October 14th at the Seven Springs Country Club in Pasco county (catered by Carrabbas Italian Grille). There will be door prizes as well. I’ll post more when I have that information.

Meanwhile, I realize there are hockey programs for several other local high schools in Pinellas, Pasco and Hillsborough counties among others in the great Tampa Bay area. If anyone wants to mention their HS Hockey team (oh, and my alma matta supposedly won the “state championship” last year — state championship in quotes simply because the state doesn’t officially recognize the organized scrimmages).

(Note — down and out lately. Didn’t know recovery was supposed to have downs to go with ups)

Marc Denis starts tonight at the Forum. Denis has been having a stellar time during camp during intra-squad scrimmages but it’s a bit different now.

I don’t expect a heavy turnout tonight but guess what? That’s our loss, the fans. Why? Players — every one of them at camp — are signing Autographs tonight. Those who were playing were available for autographs early on this afternoon (4:30 or so). Those who are not playing (including Martin St. Louis, Dan Boyle and Vincent Lecavalier) would be available throughout the game tonight on the concourses at Times Palace.

Yearly on the Sun Sports message board member jdhebner posts a predictions thread directed at one Bolts player and their statistics by seasons end. He also will make a donation in the name of the winning predictor to the charity of the predictors choice.

This year, jd wants Sun sports message board members to predict Vincent Lecavalier’s goal total for 2007-08. Take a stab if you want, and if you don’t want to do this for charity - you can post in comments here at Boltsmag.

I personally wagered a guess for a cause. You’re encouraged to do the same.