TAMPA, Florida — One of the seminal moments in Tampa Bay’s emergence as a great NHL market was the Lightning’s 2004 Stanley Cup title run.
And in the stands for Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals, a 2-1 Lightning victory over the Flyers, was 13-year-old Ryan Carpenter.
“I loved hockey, played it all growing up,” Carpenter said. “Tampa was a little bit farther [from home], but it was a memory with me and my dad I’ll never forget.”
A native of the Orlando suburb of Oviedo, Florida — a two-hour drive from downtown Tampa — Carpenter will enjoy his homecoming game Thursday as the Blackhawks visit the Lightning.
Playing exclusively for Western Conference teams so far in his career, it was just his fourth game in this city, so the luster hasn’t yet worn off. Dozens of friends and family members are making the drive for the game — the group is so big that Carpenter had to personally buy tickets for some, even though the NHL provides players a certain number of complimentary ones.
But although central Florida is a distinctly unusual breeding ground for hockey talent, Carpenter is one of many Hawks who grew up near NHL cities.
A whopping 16 players on the Hawks’ current roster claim hometowns on the NHL circuit. That’s created a difficult task for coach Jeremy Colliton, who is always attentive to start guys on their homecomings.
“We try to do it when we can,” Colliton said Thursday. “We’ll always talk about it before the game, see if there’s anything there. But it just gives guys a little boost, and the boys in the room, they get a kick out of it.”
There’s Jonathan Toews from Winnipeg, Brent Seabrook from Vancouver and Duncan Keith from both — Keith was born in Winnipeg and now spends his summers in British Columbia.
Dylan Strome, Drake Caggiula and now Malcolm Subban all hail from the massive region that is greater Toronto.
Alex DeBrincat is from a Detroit suburb, Brandon Saad from a Pittsburgh suburb, Kirby Dach from an Edmonton suburb and Nick Seeler — lucky enough to play for his hometown Wild until a few weeks ago — from a Minneapolis suburb.
Alex Nylander was technically born in Calgary, one of many stops in father Michael’s long NHL career.
Connor Murphy — son of longtime NHL player and coach Gord Murphy — was born in Miami, then moved to Atlanta, then settled down in Columbus, where he became a diehard Blue Jackets fan.
“I was all-in into it,” Murphy said earlier this season. “We didn’t have the best results of seasons; I think we made the playoffs once. But it was unique, and I was really lucky to have that to grow up around.”
Slater Koekkoek is as devoted an Ottawan as they come; last summer, he bought land south of town simply to spend his days muskie fishing. When the Hawks visited last month, longtime Senators forward Zack Smith got all the attention, but Koekkoek actually brought the largest fan entourage.
And then there’s Corey Crawford in Montreal and Patrick Kane in Buffalo.
Both have absolutely dominated their hometown teams over the years. Crawford is 6-0-2 lifetime with a .971 save percentage on the road against the Canadiens. Kane has 13 points in eight career road games at the Sabres — with this season’s homecoming coming right up.
“Going back home, it’s one of the things that I look forward to pretty much right away on the schedule,” Kane said Thursday, likely also speaking for many teammates. “It’s fun for anyone to go back and spend that time with your family.”
