Tampa Bay Lightning: Stanley Cup champs’ team dog a little confused

The new Stanley Cup champs’ team dog is a little confused.

The new Stanley Cup champs’ team dog is a little mystified by all the hoopla about this status.

If you don’t follow hockey and hockey dogs, we’re talking about the Tampa Bay Lightning’s Bolt, a yellow Labrador Retriever who will soon go off to Puppy College, where he will learn how to be a guide dog trained by Southeastern Guide Dogs.

Bolt’s adventures can be followed on social media at the handle @BoltsPup.

“The humans seem very excited about this shiny new water bowl,” he commented.

It certainly is a very BIG water bowl, weighing nearly forty pounds, about the size of a Beagle, and the most storied trophy in professional sports, which of course makes this caption and viewpoint all the more hilarious.

The 2019-20 NHL season was a strange one – shortened by the coronavirus pandemic, Tampa Bay finished the regular season with a .657 winning percentage through 70 games, and a record of 43 wins, 21 losses and six overtime losses.

Once the playoffs began in the bubbles at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario (Eastern Conference teams) and Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta (Western Conference teams), the Lightning earned the second seed and defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets in five games in the first round, then eliminated the Boston Bruins in five games in the second round.

With the conference finals moving to Edmonton, they faced Tori’s New York Islanders next and emerged triumphant after six games, setting up a matchup with the Dallas Stars.

It took six games, but the Tampa Bay Lightning became the newest Stanley Cup champs after their 2-0 win on Monday, September 28.

Since the Bolts are the favorite team of staff dog Holland the Pup, we were following this series especially closely here at Dog O’Day, even making her a jersey in Animal Crossing: New Horizons at the start of the playoffs.

This is the second year in a row that the reigning Stanley Cup champs have a team dog, as the St Louis Blues’ Barclay stole the hearts of the nation last season, which led to a win as Best Team Dog in the NHL Fan Choice Awards.

Fellow team dog Hobey, a Golden Retriever with the Minnesota Wild who will eventually work with a veteran easing PTSD symptoms, also had a good day, as he got his sweater, a No. Pawprint in green.

“Guyssss I gots my Wild jersey!!!” Hobey wrote in the caption of his post.

He looks very handsome in it and makes a good model.

For more on Tampa Bay Lightning news, analysis and opinion over the offseason and into the 2020-21 NHL season (whenever that starts), be sure to check out our FanSided Network sister site Bolts by the Bay.