James Davis: “I am here with the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Putnam) on behalf of several representatives from the Tampa Bay area to…”

“I am here with the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Putnam) on behalf of several representatives from the Tampa Bay area to add a few words of pride and satisfaction at this remarkable achievement. Yes, we heard that right. A Florida hockey team in the Tampa Bay area is taking the Stanley Cup home, a truly remarkable feat. The Tampa Bay area is also considered the lightning capital of the world. Not many people know that. And this victory in the Stanley Cup confirms that we are a capital of the world now in hockey because of the Tampa Bay Lightning. In just 12 seasons, this team has succeeded after 23 games in a playoff series in 2 months in winning the Stanley Cup. I would like to also highlight some of the remarkable individual feats that the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Putnam) alluded to: the sensational saves of goalie Nicolai Khabibulin to maintain a one-goal lead in one of the key games; the work of Dave Andreychuk, who was mentioned, he played for 22 years, waited this long to win the Stanley Cup, setting a tie in terms of the longest amount of service before winning the Stanley Cup; Brad Richards, the MVP of the Stanley Cup playoffs with 12 goals and 14 assists; the scoring touch of Ruslan Fedotenko, who scored both goals in Game 7 against Calgary; Martin St. Louie, who is only 5 foot 9 inches tall, but makes up for that with tremendous height and heart, scored the thrilling goal in the second overtime in Game 6 with Calgary.”