The Tampa Bay Lightning sent out a mailer about what may already be known to most Lightning fans but Game #6 on Sunday, April 22nd is slated to begin at 1 PM.

Tickets still available, blah blah blah, you know the drill.

I did this last season and of course the media didn’t listen, nor did the team… I’m hoping the local blogosphere can help carry this into the mainstream but…

“When does Lightning show up best? When it’s dark.”

Ladies and gentlemen, we ought to blackout the St. Petersburg Times Forum on Monday (and Wendesday, and whenever else necessary). It is a copycat tradition to have everyone in the building wearing one type color or another… but it’s not as tired and cliché as the “white out”.

Simply show up at the arena wearing dark colors — black, dark blues, etc. Heck, it’s the color of the uniform the home team is wearing, lest we forget

OK, someone tell me directly that I shoved my foot in my mouth… Or better yet, the Lightning shoved my foot in my mouth.

In a quick reversal of fortune — that can quickly change again if the Lightning let up — they go into tonights home game versus the Ottawa Senators with a shot at first place in the Southeast Division and the #3 seed in the east. The Thrashers hath fallen to the Pittsburgh Penguins this afternoon (2-1 final) and that puts pressure on the Lightning to perform.

Packed house at the arena expected tonight, as the Lightning box office was selling standing room only tickets as of this morning. Times Palace will be rocking if not for playoff calibre hockey (or so we hope) but also with people wanting to see Vincenzo tally #50 on his scoring belt for the year.

March Madness ain’t shit compared to playoff push hockey.

You got a hockey game one night, you have a Justin Timberlake concert the next and another hockey game the next evening. Getting an NHL arena ready for it’s various functions is no small order and takes lots of manpower as well as lots of dedication.

I could talk up how big a job an arena conversion crew has all day… I’ll let the Toronto Star’s video of the Air Canada center being converted tell you everything though.

For tonights Lightning/Hurricanes game. It should be noted that Guns and Roses (more like “Axel Rose and Friends”) performed last night at the arena… Late Last night. We’re talking after midnight.

So keep this in mind (ice conditions) if you’re watching the game on TV and think the ice is crapola tonight…

Friday night opens play of the first annual Lightning College Hockey Classic at the St. Petersburg Times forum in downtown Tampa. All of this is a prelude to Tampa hosting the Frozen Four in 2012.

The ironic thing about the event (which is taking place on Friday and Saturday) is that Notre Dame is officially listed as the host college of the tournament. The University of Alabama-Huntsville is the closest hockey program to Tampa. That’s not saying there aren’t hockey programs at the universities of Florida, Florida State, South Florida, Miami and other places in the state — that is saying they aren’t NCAA sanctioned hockey programs.

What are you doing Saturday?

Young Nicholas learned, on his summer vacation, that you should phear Dan Boyle:

Photo taken at the Shots draft party on Saturday. Credit Boltsmag reader Marsha for the picture

Thunderbug has gone camping…

Not out int he woods, not on Caldesi Island or something… No, on the roof of the St. Pete Times Forum until the first round of the playoffs sell out.

Get them early, get them often, and if you can’t — there is always the eight-dollar-day-of-game-ticket deal.

A friend wanted me to let everyone know that, after Sunday’s Tampa Bay Lightning matchup with the Pittsburg Penguins… There’s another matchup at the Forum:

Sunday night after the Lightning game against the Penguins, The WHA Tampa Bay Sharks and the WHA Daytona Blazers will be playing at the St. Pete Times Forum. The league game will begin at 8:00 for anyone who would like to stay to watch.

Hockey and more hockey. Ain’t life grand?