Lightning Sign Mattias Ohlund to 7-Year, $24.5 Million Contract posted by Jeff Ponder

The Lightning have empowered their blue line even more this off-season.

After drafting young defenseman Victor Hedman last Friday in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft, the Lightning have brought in a veteran to further along his progress.  Mattias Ohlund, who has spent his entire 12-year career with the Vancouver Canucks, has moved to the Eastern Conference to play with the young Tampa Bay defense.

Ohlund was expected to receive a lot of offers today, but signed early with a contract he liked.  Being known as the top-guy in Vancouver, Ohlund possesses great foot speed and the ability to move the puck out of his zone.  He has reached the 30-point plateau six times in his career, and has scored 36 career power-play goals.  Adding Ohlund to a power-play that ranked 19th in the league last season will surely improve their chances.

This signing, along with the acquisition of Hedman, will finally make teams fear the Lightning defense on both sides of the ice.Continue reading "Lightning Sign Mattias Ohlund to ..."

Tribute to a giant of a horse posted by Jan Hoadley

Most people, even avid racing fans, have forgotten him. He's the horse Laffit Pincay called "the fastest horse I ever rode, the fastest horse I ever saw." From a man who won the Eclipe award for outstanding jockey four times and was seven times the US leading jockey this is high praise.

The horse? A bay lightning bolt named Chinook Pass. Named after a mountain pass of 5430 feet he made a highway through the sprinter division on the track.

Chinook is 30 years old this month and the bay gelding set speed records at several places, winning an Eclipse for sprinter in the early 1980s (not a misprint there!) before retiring after an injury incurred when he won the Longacres Mile. After some healing time Chinook took on a second career - that of a dressage horse and Thoroughbred ambassador.

http://horseracing.about.com/library/weekly/aa081700b.htm?p=1 is a site that shows Chinook at 21 and now at 30 in the video clip he is perhaps an outstanding example of what the Thoroughbred can be. As the Derby horses head to Kentucky it's easy to get swept up in the excitement and forget those horses from the past still out there who made our hearts pound.

Chinook is a bay son of Native Born out of a *Turn-to mare, a grandson on top of Native Dancer. After sizzling 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:14.3 in the Potrero Grande Handicap at Santa Anita Pincay said "This horse is fast but he does it easy...he's just unreal." The horse initially overlooked as ordinary in a field of foals that included Washington standout Belle of Ranier, Chinook didn't ring any bells until he was gelded. At the track he marked 21 times on the board from 25 starts, with 16 wins that included the Washington Stallion Stakes at 2 and setting a new world record for 5 furlongs at 4 years of 5 furlongs in :55.1 as well as equalling the track record for the distance at Santa Anita with a :56 flat mark.

It's Time for... Better Know An Even More Obscure Sports Team! posted by Nicholas O'Malley

Today we'll be covering...

The Florida Panthers! 

Yeah, in case you didn't know- there's a hockey team in Florida called the Panthers. I dont' know why they exist. I'm gonna try to do this with no research- let's see how it goes.

I can't name a playe on this team. Ever. Then again, they could've been an expansion team this year and I'd have believed it. I just saw the Boston Bruins play them why I was eating my buffalo chicken chowder bread bowl at the Souper Bowl the otehr night. I've heard of the Tampa Bay Lightning, they won it all a few years back with St. Louis, LeCavalier, and that goalie, Nikolai Havi... Habby, Habi... Holly.. Halibubu? Habubooblin? Habibubu... What? It starts with a K? Screw it I'm looking it up. (Khabibulin).

Holy crap, this team's been around since '93. They're based in Miami (like the Florida Marlins) and are owned by Wayne Huizenga of Miami Dolphins ownership. Their organization includes two hall-of-famers, their first head coach and first GM/president.

Ok, so the Florida Panthers are not interesting or publicized- at all. I guess this is why I (or you) have ever heard of them and is the reason the NHL neeeds less teams.

 Note: Remember that one guy that got his jugular slashed open with a skate and then ran off the ice while leaving a trail of blood. Yeah, he played for the Panthers.

Something's wrong with Tropicana Field? posted by Apryl DeLancey

While attending college at the University of Tampa, I noticed the awesome fact that the area is rich in professional sports! The Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Tampa Bay Lightning, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers are relatively close to each other and easily accessible. The closest NBA was the Orlando Magic, but I got to catch a pre-season game at the Ice Palace one year. I felt really spoiled since I grew up in a place where everything was much more spread out and harder to get tickets for. To make things even better – there was plenty of golf and tennis around. I only wish the USF Bulls were as good as they are now when I was there. I didn’t complain though, I was able to go to the games free since my school didn’t have football. (They did at one time; John Matuszak is a U Tampa alum!)

The first time watching a game at Tropicana Field I was very impressed. Here was this architecturally interesting dome that had some great modern amenities. Compared to my Chavez Ravine (pre-refurbishing – before the new rows and seats were added), it had the luster of a new car. Comfortable seats, plenty of interesting vendors, and I was pumped to be there. But all of the locals complained! I came to realize that the city had a strange love-hate relationship with the Rays. One fan told me that he didn’t like them because of the timing they released their inaugural season tickets. He felt they somehow were undermining the Bucs when they weren’t very good. Others told me they hated the dome. Huh? How can you hate the dome? I was told baseball should be played outside. I agree – its just that the area has severe thunderstorms in the summer. The thought of a full-time open-air baseball stadium in the area was odd to me. Regardless, almost no one I encountered in the area had a favorable view of Tropicana Field. I thought it was just fine. In fact, I quite enjoyed every game I attended there.

D Ohlund joins Tampa for 7 years, $24.5M (AP)

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Ex-Canucks D Ohlund signs with Lightning (AP)

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From Yahoo! Sports