A joke thread was started over at Calgary Puck over the summer. I’m partly to blame for it but not as much as the ticket rep with the Lightning who sent out the mailer in question that was reposted over on those boards:

Don’t miss out on the hottest tickets in town, since the Lightning have welcomed their new owners, there has been nothing but excitement over here at the Forum. In just one week we have added Power forwards Ryan Malone, Radim Vrbata and Gary Roberts. We have also drafted rookie phenom Steve Stamkos and signed Goalie Olaf Kolzig. This team has gone from being in the basement of the NHL to one the best teams in the league, and maybe one of the best teams in NHL history!! Now is the time to come on board in our luxury seating areas.

…

Emphasis added by me and the remainder of the ticket offerings snipped.

Now, we’re 2 games into the 2008-09 season but is a 19 shot effort at all living up to the hype that this ticket rep put out? How about the 21 shot effort the day before, where Vincent Lecavalier was the only player able to put up more than a pair of shots on goal?

Right now, that ticket rep email looks even more like a joke to me. Maybe that’ll change after Saturday’s game versus the Hurricanes back in North America? Or perhaps we’ve been introduced to what will be one of the longest seasons for TB fans since the late 1990’s?

Ahem….

T4mp4 B4y 0wnz j00, Flyers.

Playing without Keith Primeau and Jeremy Roenick, the Tampa Bay Lightning went on to score a season sweep of the Flyers in front of 17,545 at the Times Palace on Tuesday Night. Brad Richards and Corey Stillman each had three points - recording goals and two assists — while Martin St. Louis notched his 29th goal on the season.