A show of appreciation

As we made our way through pregame festivities Saturday night at the St. Pete Times Forum, we were pleasantly surprised to see former Lightning captain Dave Andreychuk milling with fans near The Arts Center's Art on Ice program.

Captain Dave signed a ton of autographs, including Stanley Cups made of clay, for a couple hundred fans. He posed for numerous pictures. He made memories for the smiling faces. Basically, in his role as a team ambassador, he was accessible. Quite simply, for those fortunate enough to meet him, he added value to the Lightning's 3-2 victory over the Rangers.

Now, for someone who has no problem calling out Brad Richards for his continued dime-on-a-dollar return on the NHL's second-biggest contract, or declaring that the team's inconsistency at home fails to provide an adequate return on our ticket-package investments, I will give the organization credit for reaching out to its fans.

Later today, the Lightning is holding a free Playoff Push rally at the Forum. They'll make players, such as Dan Boyle, Johan Holmqvist and Richards, accessible to fans. And, if you buy a package, which includes free tickets to the first two playoff games (provided the Lightning make it), you get a meet-and-greet with Vinny Lecavalier and Marty St. Louis.

Though it's nothing more than a marketing push to put fannies in the seats, it's another example of what the Lightning does right. They appreciate their fans. And, as a fan, I appreciate that.

Maybe next time, Dave

Of all the things I could write about today -- from the hunt to find the Sabres to having one of my the best-ever days of hounding -- the one thing I'll share with you now is my disappointment with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

It's not because they lost, 4-1, to my beloved Buffalo Sabres. No, I was wearing an Ryan Miller-autographed practice-used (loaded with pucks marks, even on the nose of the logo) official Sabres practice jersey and was exulting, much to Colin's dismay, whenever they scored.

My disappointment comes from one thing. The Lightning did not retire Dave Andreychuk's No. 25 on Dave Andreychuk Night. Sure, they played messages from Scotty Bowman and Doug Gilmour. They showed highlights from his career. And, yes, they gave him gifts, including a rocking chair, a walker on skates and a golf trip to Ireland.

What they didn't do was something that would have cost very little, in a monetary sense, but would have reaped huge rewards for showing how classy the organization could have been. Sadly, though, the Tampa Bay Lightning organization missed a wide-open net.

Not only would have raising No. 25 to the rafters of the St. Pete Times Forum honored one of the game's and Lightning's best, but it would also have forever given the Lightning faithful a pleasant memory of one wonderfully magical season.

P.S. I promise I'll file reports tomorrow on hounding the Sabres. It was well worth the effort.

Captain Dave finally gets his due

A couple weeks ago, once I figured out how to hook up the new VCR/DVD player to the digital-cable box and then to the television, I finally got around to watching the visual story of the Tampa Bay Lightning’s run to the 2003-04 Stanley Cup championship.

It was interesting watching the team jell with each playoff series, a different player carrying the Bolts upon his back, until that exciting deciding Game 7 victory over the Calgary Flames at the St. Pete Times Forum.

To a man, though, nearly every player, coach, member of management and those in the media mentioned how special it was for Dave Andreychuk, Tampa Bay’s captain, to finally win his first Stanley Cup in 22 years of playing in the National Hockey League.

In fact, while the cover shows the Bolts’ key components of that magical season -- Vinny Lecavalier, Brad Richards, Marty St. Louis and Nikolai Khabibulin -– the biggest picture belongs to Andreychuk. In it, he holds the Cup aloft, a look of deep satisfaction, caught for eternity, etched upon his face.

Tomorrow night, Lightning fans will resume their adulation for their captain, as the very same organization that unceremoniously waived him last season will finally honor his career and contributions with a Dave Andreychuk Night.

The Lightning’s opponent tomorrow will be the Buffalo Sabres, the team that drafted him 16th overall in 1982 and where he played for 12 of his 23 NHL seasons. So, in a sense, it’s fitting that the Lightning waited until now for a recognition that’s long overdue.

Though a bobblehead commemorating the night will be given to the first 5,000 fans (Yes, I hope to be one of those), I’m hoping the Tampa Bay organization takes it a step further, making Andreychuk’s No. 25 the first ever to be retired by the team. Simply, it would be a classy move for a classy individual.

Just in case . . .

In making my first-ever two-team trip in Tampa, I was looking to take the easy way out. Rather than packing a dozen pucks and a book of cards, and putting in all of that prep work, I opted for bigger items.

A full-sized team helmet (which now has 14 signatures, including Vinny Lecavalier), a vintage Riddell Tampa Bay Lightning goalie mini mask (which now sports silver signatures from Marc Denis and Johan Holmqvist) and a Springfield Falcons mini stick (which second-year defenseman Paul Ranger signed) all fit into my bag

As an afterthought, and only after remembering to pack a Philadelphia Flyers puck for Bill Barber, the Lightning’s director of player personnel, I did bring along one Lightning puck.

Though Barber wasn’t there, the other puck was put to good use.

At the end of the morning skates, as I was walking back to the car, I saw a man with an old black-white-and-red Sabres jersey standing outside a restaurant. I thought to myself that the guy looked, from a distance, like Dave Andreychuk. It was logical, too, as the guy was standing outside of Andreychuk’s Grille, the future Hall of Famer’s restaurant that sits across Channelside Drive from the St. Pete Times Forum.

No sooner had I thought that but who steps out of the Lightning’s administrative offices? It was Andreychuk himself. I did a double-take, but quickly recovered to grab the Lightning puck and have him sign it, giving me my 38th autograph of the morning, including the 20 I scored earlier from Atlanta.