Cletus's Dynasty - Operation Sports

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Posted on July 14, 2012 at 08:42 PM.

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Hi, Rod Martin here to recap the Bolts win in St. Louis tonight. It was a surprisingly gritty game here as the snipers of St. Louis got hemmed in by the aggressively trapping defense of Tampa Bay. We pick up action in the first period as Tampa Bay is looking to get in front yet again early.
"Nice save by Puppa on the shorthanded chance by the Blues. Folks, he looks like he's on his game tonight. Puppa passes it out to Bradley who skates through the neutral zone with speed, beats Duchesne, sets up the slapper and scores past a diving Curtis Joseph! Goal Tampa Bay Lightning! And yet another assist for Puppa! Give him the MVP already."
Dan Jimmerson on the call and it may be too early to call for the MVP for Puppa but boy is his on his game. He has 3 assists already on the season. Speaking of Puppa, he would steal the show tonight as discipline was not a thought for Tampa tonight.
"St. Louis is on their 4th powerplay of the night as Carbonneau wins the draw to Doug Lidster. Lidster feeds it to Tikkanen who sets up a huge Slapper! Glove save by Puppa. Wow what a save and it's still a 1-0 Lightning lead!"
"Tampa up 1-0 as the third starts to wind down, here's MacInnis with it. And Hull is wide open at center ice. MacInnis makes a perfect pass and here we go, Hull is on a breakaway. Hull dekes and THERE'S A SAVE BY PUPPA. Hull shakes his head as Puppa spreads, makes a glove save and plops on the ice. Calm down Daren, you're not home on the sofa yet!"
About halfway through, Tampa goes up 2-0 thanks to this goal by Petr Klima. "Tampa looking for some insurance on the power play. Shaw recovers the dump in, passes to Bradley in the neutral zone. Bradley hits Klima along the boards, Klima bursts in, beats Duschene to the hash marks, skates in on CuJo. He Scores!!!! Goal Petr Klima. Nice burst of speed to beat the defense and a nice low backhand shot for the goal!"
That would do it for the highlights as Tampa cruises and bruises to a 2-0 win. Join us tomorrow night as we should have a dandy. The Lightning are taking on the Philadelphia Flyers at home. Come out and support your Lightning at 7:30 at the Thunderdome!

Friday, July 13, 2012

Game 1 recap Oct. 1 Vs. Islanders

Posted on July 13, 2012 at 10:02 AM.

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"The 1996 season is underway here in Tampa Bay. Bradley wins the draw back, to Hamrlik, passes to Klima. Klima enters the zone, meets the defense then retreats to center ice and drops it to Shaw. Shaw passes it up to Selivanov at the blue line, Alexander gets a step on the defenseman cuts toward the net, backhand, GOAL!!!! Alexander Selivanov starts out the season with a goal!! 45 seconds into the season Lightning lead 1-0."
That's how the season would start for the Lightning, Selivanov assisted by David Shaw and Petr Klima. Later in the Period, the Isles would strike back. "Tampa on the pp for the first time this seaon, Bradley is out to take the draw and drops it back to Hamrlik. Hamrlik shoots save made and kicked out to Petr Klima. Klima gets it stolen by Scott Lachance who passes it to Muller. Muller clears it and it banks off the boards in on Puppa. Puppa, turns and kicks it in! Goal Islanders. It's tied 1-1" Definitely not Puppa's finest moment as the puck takes a direct bounce off the boards behind him and in.
The second period was filled with action, mostly for the Lightning as it started out with Rob Zamuner fighting with Steve Thomas. "Uh OH, here we go, It's Robbie Zamuner and Steve Thomas. Zamuner gets a couple of punches in as Thomas counters with 2 big jabs to Zamuner. Zamuner tugging on the jersey, levels Thomas with a couple of big punches! Zamuner wins this one easily and David Ortega of Ft. Myers wins a 20 dollar gift certificate from Hooters in our knock em out, grab a drink promotion congrats Mr. Ortega."
Tampa Bay would go on to score 3 goals in a span of 30 seconds during Zamuner's 5 minute major. Poulin scored on a nice pass by Chris Gratton. Selivanov got his second assisted by Bradley and Hamrlik. Capping off the second period scoring Bradley scored on a backhand assisted by Hamrlik and Puppa.
Tampa Bay clamped it down on defense in the third as Puppa played solid throughout the period. However, that didn't stop Steve Thomas from scoring, with an assist by Kirk Muller 6 minutes into the period. Selivanov had a chance at the hat trick with 5 seconds in the period but was denied on a slapshot. That's it from us here in Tampa as the Lightning win 4-2. Join us October 4th as your Lightning take on the Quebec Nordiques in the Great White North!

1995-1996 Tampa Bay Season Preview

Posted on July 13, 2012 at 09:08 AM.

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I did this as a read along so that people that wanted to read could instead of cluttering up my dynasty thread on the main board. So here we go!

August 25 1995...

It's time for a new season Lightning fans! Time for a new start from our team in Tampa. The 1995 campaign was one for hockey fans to forget, especially us down here in Lightning Land. As the NHL tries to put away memories of the lockout Tampa Bay is putting forth a huge effort to erase their last place finish. A lot of credit must be given to coach Terry Crisp and GM/President Phil Esposito on how far this expansion team has come in such a few years but neither are happy with last season's finish. Esposito is quoted as saying, "Last season was disastrous, we've made strides this offseason to make sure it doesn't happen. We've gotten more skill in the forward position and we are going to have very healthy competition for playing time."
That is very true as Esposito has brought in players such as Brian Bellows and Patrick Poulin to help out the younger players. Tampa Bay is also looking for a breakout year from Alexander Selivanov. The talented winger will be playing alongside team MVP Brian Bradley. Bradley says he's excited to see Selivanov grow as a player. "He's really got a nice scoring touch and is developing his all around game to help take some pressure off me offensively."
Defensively might be where this team struggles. Their top 6 defensemen are Roman Hamrlik, Bill Houlder, Cory Cross and whoever steps up. Hamrlik is starting to hit his young stride in the NHL and proving that he was worthy of being the 1st draft pick in franchise history.
Goalies should be solid this year with Daren Puppa returning to the keep pucks out. The veteran net minder is poised for a big year. "You know I've really trained hard this year and I think we're gonna have a good year. We picked ourselves up a solid backup and he's gonna relieve me some, just not too much." Daren is of course talking about Jeff Reese, picked up in a trade from Hartford. J.C. Bergeron is also there battling for the backup role.

It should be a fun season Lightning fans, and I expect to see everyone out at the Thunderdome on the 1st as your lightning take on the New York Islanders. Pregrame starts at 630 here on the Lightning Radio Network, followed by the game at 7. This is Bob Evans wrapping up this preseason look at the Tampa Bay Lightning.