TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – Ahead of the start of Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Final between the Lightning and the Penguins, fans packed into Channelside for the News Channel 8 Bolts watch party.
The event has grown and so has the venue. Fans can watch the puck drop from three big screen televisions set up between the Garrison parking lot and the actual plaza.
Organizers said before the event they expected a record-breaking crowd, with an estimated 5,000 fans. Some fans started showing up as early as 3 p.m. for the 8 p.m. game.
Richard Lewis from Port Richey was the first. He made sure to come prepared.
“I’m setting up for the six of us. My wife is coming with our four kids … So you have to get a good spot so the kids have room to play. I’ve got chairs, and we have umbrellas to shade us. Getting a good spot up front is always important,” Lewis said.
The event featured vendors, the Bolts cheerleaders, live music and a DJ, food, giveaways and entertainment for kids.
News Channel 8 talked with fans after the game.
“It’s very unfortunate Bishop got hurt. I mean we obviously don’t know what it was but it was something pretty bad going off on a stretcher you never know … He might be alright. It might be something that was hurting him bad then but we’ll see,” Aaron MacNeil said.
Phillip Pogorazala agreed. “Vasilevskiy is an awesome backup. We got one of the best backups … But yah, Bishop he’s solid; he’s one of our guys. You know it’s sad to see someone get hurt like that especially Bishop,” he said.
“They were just awesome Ben Bishop went down, Johnson went down. Johnson came back. Hopefully, Bishop is okay but we were awesome. They hung in there and they were great,” Sherry Wright said.
