The date was June 7, 2004.
Tampa Bay Lightning forward Ruslan Fedotenko was among those preparing for one of the biggest games in the history of the franchise—a Stanley Cup Final Game Seven against the Calgary Flames as the team sought its first-ever NHL title.
Fedotenko could sense the excitement around Tampa. It was audible, too.
“It wasn’t just the building inside. We were trying to take a pregame nap and staying in the area by the rink, and you could hear people celebrating on the plaza with some activities, music and other things. It was a good atmosphere even before you could get in the building,” Fedotenko said.
“It was trying to get a little rest and get focused for it, but it was the whole building and even the people outside. It was a very exciting time.”
The boxscore from that night—and hockey history—shows how ready the Lightning were. Fedotenko scored both goals in a 2-1 victory to help Tampa Bay win the 2004 Stanley Cup.
Fedotenko opened the scoring on a power-play rebound late in the first period. He then doubled the home team’s lead on a second-period snap shot from the slot after Vincent Lecavalier walked through a crowd of Calgary defenders in the left corner and found Fedotenko alone in front of the net.
When the former NHL winger thinks back to 2004, he remembers the shock that accompanied his team accomplishing its ultimate goal.
“It’s kind of a little bit initially of disbelief, like, ‘Oh my gosh, is that it?’ But we had so much with the crowd on your side, your family, the friends, the teammates. You try to enjoy that moment and let it sink in because it just seems surreal at the time,” he said.
“Everybody’s celebrating, getting the Cup and drinking out of it. And it’s just like, ‘Is that real?’ just because it’s a long journey with the turbulent times to just get to that and a lot of uncertainties and a lot of losses, a lot of close games. You eventually get it, and you’re trying to take a moment and appreciate that and appreciate what we went through.”
Per Fedotenko, AMALIE Arena would have impressed even the stingiest of decibel meters on that night.
‘It’s do or die’
In a way, that first Stanley Cup win showed the world that hockey could not only exist but thrive in a nontraditional market such as Tampa.
“I felt like not too many people in the hockey world believed Tampa Bay could win the cup just because we were a young team, relatively speaking,” Fedotenko said. “And you know, Florida was not a hockey stage, really, but the organization put a great team together and the coaches were able to coach us the right way. We bought in and were able to win the Cup.”
Fedotenko gave Lightning Chairman & Governor Jeff Vinik credit for building Tampa Bay into a hockey hotbed—one that has won three Stanley Cups in the last 21 seasons and has qualified for the playoffs in eight consecutive seasons.
“Every year we have a chance to win. The organization puts out a very, very good team that has a legitimate chance of winning the Stanley Cup, make the playoffs and then have a really good opportunity to win,” Fedotenko said. “That’s a treat, because if you go to a different organization, different cities, different clubs, it doesn’t always work that way.”
The Stanley Cup Playoffs take hockey to another level, one Fedotenko referred to as “do or die” with every team’s season on the line. Fans should try to experience that atmosphere at least once, the Lightning alum said.
“When the playoffs start, it’s totally different hockey. You have to fight for every inch on the ice and you need to be ready…Pretty much everybody will play as hard as they can, from blocking a shot to extra efforts. And when they do that, fans are getting excited with the stakes on the line. It’s just a much more fun and exciting time to watch hockey during the playoffs.”
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