The month of September sends a spark through the Tampa Bay area.
“This is our job. This is what we look forward to all summer,” said Tampa Bay Lightning forward Alex Killorn.
“I think those couple months off, at first, it is really nice and we get to relax but after a while, you get pretty hungry and you want to get back into the swing of things,” he said.
The Tampa Bay Lightning started training camp on Thursday at Amalie Arena. They went through a series of baseline tests in the weight room.
They put on skates on Friday at the Ice Sports Forum in Brandon.
“We are excited. It is a new season,” said defenseman Victor Hedman.
“We cannot change the past. We are going to learn from it. We are a hungry team and we are ready to get camp underway.”
“I think it is good to have high expectations, better than having low expectations right?” Killorn said with laugh.
“For us, we strive. We want to be in that same position we were in last year. Expecting to be there is tough because of this league. It is tough to go far. We definitely have high expectations.”
Ryan Callahan, who is rehabbing a right shoulder injury, told us he started shooting the puck about two weeks ago. However, he is not confirming when he will return to the ice at full strength.
“They said a five month recovery and that is Nov. 1 so I am obviously still a little ways away from it,” said Callahan. “So it is hard to say if I am ahead of it or behind it but I am where I should be at this point.”
The first preseason game is on Sept. 18 at Amalie Arena against the Carolina Hurricanes. The puck drops at 7:30 p.m.
