Even back then there were those “Stanley Needs a Tan” signs and t-shirts. It was 20 years ago today the headlines read that your Tampa Bay Lightning win their first Stanley Cup. It wouldn’t be their last. Where were you that day?
In 2004, some guy at Harvard created a new website called Facebook in his dorm. President George Bush was reelected. Martha Stewart went to prison. Janet Jackson had the infamous “wardrobe malfunction.” The Boston Red Sox won their first World Series since 1918. But the thing we’ll always remember about 2004: the Tampa Bay Lightning win their first Stanley Cup.
The Tampa Bay Lightning Win Their First Stanley Cup: Doubt
The Tampa Bay Lightning poured champagne in the locker room after defeating the Calgary Flames in game seven of the NHL Stanley Cup Finals. Back on June 7, 2004, it wasn’t Amalie Arena yet. It was the St. Pete Times Forum where the Lightning won the Stanley cup by defeating the Flames 2-1.
2004 was the first year the Bolts would even play in the playoffs. Dave Andreychuk told The Hockey News that he didn’t think his team was good enough to pull this off. But as the playoff wins started to pile up, he said the formula was simple: “We stick to the system and we can beat anybody.” They did.
We did some digging and found some great photos of even the Stanley Cup winning team. There were appearances by Elvis impersonators, Alexander Ovechkin and Hulk Hogan.
