Behind the bold yellow tie and beneath the graying, slicked-back hair, which lately only vaguely resembles his trademark mullet, Barry Melrose has the heart and mind of a hockey coach. ...more

June 25, 2008

Excerpts from Barry Melrose's news conference and his interviews with members of the Tampa Bay media: ...more

June 25, 2008

Barry Melrose was officially announced as the new head coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning today. What do you think about the decision to move him out of the ESPN broadcast booth and into the locker room of a team that won the Stanley Cup in 2004? ...more

June 24, 2008

Oren Koules has style, give him that. If you could pick someone to just hang out with and share laughs, he might be the guy. ...more

June 24, 2008

In late May, it was learned that the Caliente Resort and Spa, a nudist retreat in Land O' Lakes in Pasco County, had temporarily lost its accreditation from the American Association for Nude Recreation. The reason was that the organization was alleged to have been advertising activities beyond just nudism, involving perhaps some kind of sexually exploitive pursuits. That's frowned on by the AANR which touts itself as a family organization. ...more

June 24, 2008

Lightning general manager Jay Feaster has been working the phones in hopes of collecting a second-round pick for the start of today's second-day festivities at the NHL entry draft. ...more

June 21, 2008

TAMPA - John Tortorella, the now former Lightning coach, spoke to the media for about 45 minutes this morning, the first time he has spoken publicly since returning in May from the World Championships where speculation began to circulate that he would not return for the final year of his contract. ...more

June 4, 2008

Plan B has worked out pretty well for the Detroit Red Wings. The NHL's top-seeded team planned on putting Dominik Hasek in goal during the playoffs and keeping him there. ...more

June 3, 2008

The Detroit Red Wings wrecked the Pittsburgh Penguins' home-ice advantage and gave themselves a shot to hoist the Stanley Cup in Hockeytown. ...more

June 1, 2008

from uniforms to results. The core players are maturing before everyone's eyes. Once, the franchise couldn't avoid ridicule. Now there's a virtual love-fest from the national media. ...more

May 23, 2008