The last time there was a championship celebration on boats in Tampa Bay, you might recall what happened: Tom Brady took the Lombardi Trophy and threw it to Tampa Bay Buccaneers tight end Cameron Brate, who — thank goodness — caught it.
So of course there are already jokes being made about how the Lightning might try to do the same thing to the Stanley Cup on Monday when they have their own boat parade to celebrate the win over the Montreal Canadiens.
But if you’ve wondered like I have about what would happen if a trophy found its way to the bottom of the bay, there’s an answer from the Tampa Police Department: there’s a dive team that can retrieve it.
We highly advise against this, but, if any @TBLightning player attempts the @TomBrady toss tomorrow and Stanley goes overboard, our Dive Team is ready! 😅 Thank you @BeauWTSP for highlighting our team. @10TampaBay #GoBolts https://t.co/O9QVZz226Q
— TampaPD (@TampaPD) July 11, 2021
From that WTSP story:
In fact, members of the Tampa Police Dive team tell 10 Tampa Bay they will be on standby should anything happen to the Cup. Law enforcement will be escorting the trophy along the entire parade route and members of the dive team have been assigned to keep an eye on the Stanley Cup at all times.
They would drop a buoy to mark where it dropped, making it easier for the dive team. And, yes, there was an officer named Chris Audet who was there on the day Brady tossed the trophy:
“I saw the whole thing,” said Officer Audet. “After I let out an expletive, I turned around, the trophy went, I said ‘man, that was epic.’”
