Tampa Bay Lightning Girls of the NHL

NHL hockey is one sport that needs to be seen live to obtain the full magnitude of the speed. TV coverage does not do it justice. The replays on the arena screen are great. Also another problem with TV is that they don’t cover the Lightning Girls but, I do so enjoy the album of photos from the last month of games.

01-Erica

Erica

02-Taelor

Taelor

03-Erin and Taylor

Erin and Taylor

04-Anna
Anna

05-Kori

Kori

06-Elena

Elena

07-Amy

Amy

08-Lightning Girls Winter Whites

Lightning Girls in Winter Whites

[Lightning Girls Gallery]

[Tampa Bay Lightning Girls]

Tampa Bay Lightning Ice Girls

Well I guess technically not Ice Girls since they are deemed too hot to be allowed on the Ice during games!!

Saw a great game the other night as the Lightning scored in the last 60 seconds to beat the Blue Shirts from Madison Square Garden.

Added a batch of photos to the back of Lightning Girls album—enjoy:

01-Kelly and Taylor

Kelly and Taylor

02-Erin

Erin

03-Anna

Anna

04-Isabella

Isabella

05-Kori

Kori

06-Erica

Erica

07-Taylor

Taylor

08-Erin and Liz

Erin and Liz

09-Group

Erica Taelor Alyssa Cady Kori Erin Amy Elena

 

Isabella and Alyssa

Click the photo above for the Lightning Girls Flickr Gallery.

[Tampa Bay Lightning Girls]

Lightning Start Quest For Stanley Cup With Opening Victories

The Tampa Bay Lightning opened the season last Thursday with an exciting overtime victory versus the Philadelphia Flyers. Props to the NHL for implementing the new 3 on 3 format in overtime. Helter-Skelter action goal to goal.

The Lightning Girls loss some impressive talent to retirement but added some great rookie keepers. Hooray!!!

1

Kori, Erica, Elena, Cady, Alyssa (captain), Taelor, Taylor, Liz, Amy, Erin.

2

Fan favorite alum captain Crystal returns to be coach and mentor to the squad.

3 Rachael

Rachael starts the season on the injury list.

4

Rookie Taylor, Miami Dolphin Cheer alum, joins the squad after relocating to Tampa.

5 Erica and Taelor

Veterans Erica and Taelor

6 Kori and Elena

Kori and rookie Elena

7 Anna and Erin

Rookies Anna and Erin

8

Kori, inattentive Kelly, Alyssa and Erica

[Lightning Girls Gallery]

[Tampa Bay Lighting Girls]

Tampa Bay’s Allison Donato, Lightning Girl Captain

Belated congratulations out to the Chicago Blackhawk players and Ice Girls for their 3rd Stanley Cup victory in the last six years. Dynasty accomplishment. My hometown Lightning had a great season and I feel they announced to the NHL they will be a tough out over the next few years.

A secondary reward of following Tampa Bay in the 26 postseason games is that the Lightning Girls became more visible than ever because of all the away watch parties. What started with only 500 fans grew to 18,000 by game 6 of the Cup Finals. Compared to the other majors the NHL has a smaller, but more raucous, fan base. That base grew exponentially in Tampa this year. Success breeds more success, amazing journey, great memories.

After the final game I cornered third year Lightning Girl Captain, Allison, and asked for her reflections on this miracle run season:

Allison, can you run me through the last 12 months?
Allison: “In 2014 when we got swept by the Canadians I was so disappointed, but I knew that the Bolts would get revenge. It is still surreal to me that we made it to the Stanley Cup Finals. It was such an honor to be Captain of the 2014-2015 Lightning Girls team. When I first made the team 3 years ago, I never would have thought that I would get to experience this great season. It is truly a dream come true and something that I will remember for the rest of my life.”

Is being a Lightning Girl more than cheering on game days?
Allison: “Being a Tampa Bay Lightning Girl is so much more than just dancing at the games with pom-poms. One of my favorite parts about being a Lightning Girl is the one-on-one interaction we have with our fans. We are constantly out in the community representing the Lightning Organization and interacting with people. It’s so much fun to be able to meet and form a relationship with so many incredible individuals throughout the season. Meeting with the young kids is my favorite. It’s really an amazing feeling to know that you are a role model to someone.”

Tell the UC readers about the watch parties.

Allison: “Our Watch Parties during playoffs were insane!!! It really encouraged the community to come together and support our Bolts. We had THOUSANDS of fans come out to our watch parties. It allowed our fan base to grow, which is great!”

Will we get to see you for another season?

Allison: “Sadly, this was my last season as a Lightning Girl. The Lightning Organization has been such a huge part of my life for 3 years and I am heartbroken that this is the end. However, I have some very exciting things happening in my life. In a few months I will be moving to London for 10 months to study abroad at Middlesex University. Studying abroad has always been a dream of mine so I am very excited to start this new chapter of my life.”

I always saw your family at the games!

Allison: “Throughout my 3 years as a Lightning Girl, my family has always been so supportive. They were at every single game supporting the Bolts and watching me. My 6 year old niece, Kenna, would come as well and dance with us. She had her own pair of matching pom-poms and a Lightning cheerleader outfit. I am so thankful that I was able to share this experience with my family and my niece.”

Congratulations from UC to the Lightning Girls and the entire Lightning organization for a great season. I added some 60 photos to our Lightning Girls playoffs album–enjoy.

1

Allison and her 6 year niece Kenna.

2

Allison’s final game.

3

Allison

4

Allison

5

Allison

6

Allison, Isabella, Alyssa and Stefania

7

Captains Allison and Heather

8

Teammates Erica and Alyssa

[Lightning Girls Playoffs Gallery]

Photo of the Day – June 15

pod15jun15

Former Tampa Bay Lightning Girl and Allen Americans Ice Angel Brooklyn’s teams are having great seasons. Their “Cups runneth over”! The Americans won their third straight ECHL Kelly Cup and the Lightning will try to extend the Stanley Cup tonight

Lightning Girls Advance To Final Four

The Lightning Girls, along with the players of course, have advanced to the NHL Final Four by giving the Canadians a revenge beating. This is my quote from last year’s playoff elimination loss to Montreal:

“Comprenez-vous? No, I don’t understand how the Lightning’s great 101 points season could end up in a playoff sweep loss to the Les Habitants! It’s all french to me. BUT, wait until next year, the foundation is set.” Wow, what a prognosticator!!!!

The next opponent is the Blue Shirts from Broadway. Unless the Rangers borrow the Knickerbocker’s City Dancers this Cheer competition is the Lightning’s by default.

March on to the Stanley Cup.

We added many photos to our playoff album, enjoy.

1 Alexis

Alexis

2 Rachael and Heather

Rachael and Heather

3 Taelor-Kelly-Alyssa

Taelor, Kelly and Alyssa

 

4 Cher

Cher

5 Alyssa

Alyssa

6 Allison

Allison

7 Erica

Erica

8 Lightning Girls

Allison, Megan, Isabella, Alexis, Rachael, Heather, Alyssa and Kori

 

[Lightning Girls Gallery]

[Tampa Bay Lightning Girls]

The Lightning Girls And Their Junior Cheerleaders

I mentioned a few times how I feel that the Jeff Vinik Lightning organization does a nice job in creating a great fan environment for the Storm and Lightning games. My last trip to Amalie Arena was during the kid friendly weekend where the game times on the Saturday and Sunday were pushed up to 5pm. I knew the youngsters would be at the free popcorn stands but to see them cheering all the action with enthusiasm was fun to observe. The Lightning are nurturing another generation of hockey fanatical’s.

I posted an additional batch of Lightning Girl photos—they took the juniors out on the ice for a performance.

Oh yeah, Lightning 5 to 3 over the Anaheim Ducks.

Enjoy.

1-Heather

Heather, squad captain

2-Kelsey

Kelsey

3-Tailor

Tailor

4

Alexis and Megan

5

Isabella and Cher

6

Erica and Kori

7-Alyssa

Alyssa

8-Allison

Allison, squad captain

[Lightning Girls Gallery]

[TB Lightning Girls]