Welcome & introduce yourself

[BurnTHalO]

So, apparently I never did this.

Where were you born? Toledo, OH
Current hometown: Marietta, OH
Ever live anywhere else?: St. Pete, Bowling Green OH
Nationality/ethnicity: Scottish
Job: Staff Scientist/Geologist

Favorite hockey team: Lightning
Why do you like them? So kind of a longstory. When I got into hockey it was the years of Probert/Grimson/McCarthy on the Wings. As they started getting rid of those players and changing their style of play, I started liking them less and less. I ended up at Eckerd for college, and went to a game (handed a free ticket as we were walking up) and had fun. Went to another game, and this was the game where Roy fought Sandy McCarthy, tried to go after him again, and then went after the whole Rangers bench. As I didn't like the Rangers in the first place, that made me really like the team. As I got more into hockey, I just watched more and more Tampa and they became my team, and have been ever since.

Favorite hockey team as a kid (if different): Red Wings, Sharks
Least favorite: Boston, Pitt
Favorite active player on your favorite team: rough question, probably Stamkos/Vasi right now. I do really like Palat and Drouin as well.
Favorite active player on another team: Seth Jones (CBJ is my other team).
All time favorite player if different: Andre Roy, Hasek (I was a street hockey goalie and they always joked I played like him cause I taught my self and could flail around and somehow always make the stop).
Favorite teams in other sports: I've given up a lot of other sports. Was a big NFL guy (Browns and Lions), but absolutely refuse to watch it now, and I was a huge MMA guy (Wanderlei Silva, Fedor, Hendo were my top 3), but it's too much of a WWF event now where you talk yourself into fights, not earn them. Trying to get into soccer, but the team I was told I would love got regulated (Newcastle). MLS would have to be the Crew.

Favorite video/other games: I'm old school. Give me Mega Man, Zelda, and Castlevania. I do like the new Batman games.
Favorite music: I'm a metal head, but I do get into some dubstep kicks as well.
Favorite Band: Machine Head, Metallica, Once Human, Nirvana, One Minute Silence, Rammstein, Knife Party, Lindsey Sterling just to name a few.
Favorite movies: I'm not huge into movies, but I do like my comedies. Blazing Saddles, original Ghostbusters, Caddyshack, Young Frankenstein, Star Wars are good too.
Favorite TV show: Seinfeld
Favorite beer or alcoholic beverage of choice: Jack and Coke
Have any interesting hobbies? I can play 7 or so instruments and I'm big into going to Disney.

[Xaej]

Following suit! My original post is from July 2010

Hello all, I'm Xaej, a few of you prolly know me from the old TBL official Message board or thenhlarena.

Where were you born? Lakeland, FL
Current hometown: Lakeland/Auburndale,FL

Just Lakeland, FL. Bought my home here.

Ever live anywhere else?: Lots of Good Old Fashion Polk County Excursions

Actually did live in Brandon for a year. And man, the crowds. Never again.

Nationality/ethnicity: American/Caucasian
Job: Pizza Hut Manager

Job: Automotive Collision Estimator (Worked for GEICO for about four years, then Lexus of Tampa Bay, now I'm an independent estimate auditor for ASI - an audit company out of Georgia, we contract with a lot of insurance carriers, most notably USAA)

Favorite Hockey Team: Lightning
Why do you like them? From the area, went to my first game when I was 10, played hockey some when I was 9 and fell in love with the game
Least favorite: Montreal & Toronto

Truth be told, my distaste for those teams in those days was probably just due to elitist fans. Nowadays, I'd say Boston. 'Cuz fuck the broons.

Favorite active player on your favorite team: Steven Stamkos

Steven Stamkos & Ondrej Palat

Favorite active players on another team: Vinny Prospal, Jan Hejda, Jason Arnott

Mark Scheifele, Nikolaj Ehlers, and I'm really loving what I'm seeing from Zach Werenski, but it's really early

All time favorite player if different: Vinny Prospal
Favorite teams in other sports: There are sports besides hockey?

Favorite video/other games: Halo (1 & 2 were my favorite, 3 was alright, Reach seems decent enough), Super Smash Bros. Original, Melee, and Brawl, Rock Band 2, Fire Emblem, The Legend of Zelda : A Link to the Past, the Pokemon series for Game Boy/DS/whatever, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2

Okay. Just going to name whole series as one this time : The Legend of Zelda, Halo, Super Smash Bros., The Last of Us, Bioshock : Infinite, Life Is Strange, Fire Emblem, Rock Band, Pokemon

Favorite music: Rock, Punk Rock, some Heavy Metal - Green Day

Favorite bands are Green Day, Barenaked Ladies, Billy Joel, The Fratellis, & Fun.

Favorite movies: The Stand, Castaway, Saving Private Ryan, Donnie Darko, American Beauty, Pirates of the Caribbean, lots more but haven't done much movie watching recently so having trouble remembering

Shawshank Redemption, Stranger than Fiction, Finding Nemo & Dory, How to Train Your Dragon 1 & 2, Star Wars, Pirates of the Caribbean, Harry Potter

Favorite TV show: LOST, Jericho, Heroes, House, Scrubs, Family Guy, South Park, Futurama, LOST (again)

Far and away my favorite show is Game of Thrones. After that, any of Suits, House, and How I Met Your Mother. I still love LOST & Jericho, but I've moved on to bigger and better things

Have any interesting hobbies? Eh, not so much.. hockey, music, video games, etc, the usual

My fiance, her family, & I are deeply rooted and invested in the Pokemon : Trading Card Game community. Aside from that, pretty much the same stuff as before.

[Hoek]

I had a friend recommend Naruto, but the volume of story was so daunting. Do you have to start at the beginning, or are there re-boots/jumping on points like in American superhero serials?

Alright, gotta get back to work...

Shippuden starts like 3 years after the original series. There's some flashbacks to help put current events in context from time to time but it jumps right into some serious business set up by the end of the first arc, so I recommend starting from the beginning (it's really an excellent series on its own even if you get tired and don't feel like tackling Shippuden right after). The good news is almost half of the episodes in both series are complete filler that you can skip - really, a lot of it's just nonsense. Here's a website that helps break down what is canon and what isn't:

http://www.animefillerlist.com/shows/naruto

http://www.animefillerlist.com/shows/naruto-shippuden

Also if you don't mind or even prefer reading, you could just pick up the manga for Part I and it might be faster that way, and then you can go into Shippuden. Or vice versa I suppose!

It's a lot and sometimes I had to take a break even while keeping up with it, but for me at least, the payoff was worth it. I was choking back a lot of emotions by the end because of all the stuff leading up to it. I think it does a great job of balancing character development, death, etc. without going to one well too many times, keeping in mind it's still about ninjas with super powers of course!

[dannybolt]

Jeez, we are closing in on 10 years on this board? I don't post much anymore, mostly due to my current occupation, but I still lurk a whole bunch.
Following Astro's and Hoek's lead:

Where were you born? Johnson City, TN
Current hometown: St. Pete, FL
Ever live anywhere else?: St. Paul, MN
Nationality/ethnicity: Scottish/Swedish

no change here

Job: Graphic Designer/Illustrator/Cartoonist

Ah, yeah. I totally switched careers. I'm a CPA. I work as an International Tax Accountant. 180 degrees from the above.

Favorite hockey team: The Bolts
Why do you like them? Hometown team
Favorite hockey team as a kid (if different): North Stars and Maple Leafs
Least favorite: Philadelphia Flyers
Favorite active player on your favorite team: Lecavalier

Fav player is now Ondrej Palat

Favorite active player on another team: I tend to follow Swedes that aren't named Daniel Alfredsson
All time favorite player if different: Lecavalier followed by Doug Gilmour

No favorite active player on another team. Anyone without a Bolt on their sweater is irrelevant to me, and we haven't traded or let anybody go that I was upset about.

Favorite teams in other sports: Devil Rays, Minnesota Gophers, Twins, USF Bulls, FSU Seminoles

The only other sport I have time for is Formula 1, since they only race every few weeks. I like Kimi Raikonnen and Ferrari.

Favorite video/other games: When I was a kid it was the Mario franchise, and NHL94; now NCAA Football and NHL2K
Favorite music: Ramones, Replacements, New Bomb Turks, Johnny Cash, Rocket From the Crypt, Buddy Holly

No idea how I left off The Clash the first time. My big three are The Clash, The Replacements, and The Ramones, not in that order. My tastes still don't stray too far from 70s punk or skuzzy garage punk for the most part.

Favorite movies: Too many to list, but my favorite directors are Martin Scorcese, Wes Anderson, Quentin Tarantino, Hayao Miyazaki, Woody Allen, Alfred Hitchcock and the Coen Brothers. I also really like Westerns, Crime, Film Noir, French New Wave, Documentaries, and goof-ball comedies. I also try to watch films released in the Criterion collection as much as I can.

No change. My film taste remains impeccable. Maybe drop QT and Woody Allen off that list, and add Francois Truffaut and Jean Pierre Melville as favorite filmmakers.

Favorite TV show: 30 Rock

Right now I'm watching Veep, Rick and Morty, Game of Thrones, Better Call Saul, and Top Gear/Grand Tour.

Favorite beer or alcoholic beverage of choice: Beer-Amstel Light / Cocktail- Tom Collins
Have any interesting hobbies? I write, draw and publish mini comics.

I mostly drink local brews now. Cage, Cycle, Green Bench and 3 Daughters all have good brews. I also enjoy a good G&T if the mood strikes.
No time for hobbies unfortunately. I still draw a little with my 4 year old when I can.

Crazy to think I've been watching Naruto almost 10 years and the main story arc finally ended a couple months ago!

I had a friend recommend Naruto, but the volume of story was so daunting. Do you have to start at the beginning, or are there re-boots/jumping on points like in American superhero serials?

Alright, gotta get back to work...

[Hoek]

Astro's update inspired me, so here goes!

Where were you born? Florida
Current hometown: Tampa, FL
Ever live anywhere else?: Massachusetts

Add Indiana to the list. I did spend a couple months in St. Louis also if that counts.

Nationality/ethnicity: Argentina (which makes me 'Latino' but really I'm just a European mutt)
Job: Bio Lab/Computer Tech

I'm a Software Developer now. Just got a new gig after my last one relocated. We'll see what happens with that. It's a bit different than my last job where I was the only coder, so I'm hoping I don't end up in over my head with more experienced people around me.

Favorite hockey team: Tampa Bay Lightning
Why do you like them? Hometown team, but heck I objectively like the name, color scheme, and the players, too. I might have picked them if I lived somewhere else. Even the underdog factor was appealing to me back in '95 when playing EA NHL 94 first inspired me to become a hockey fan.
Least favorite: Florida Panthers
Favorite active player on your favorite team: Vincent Lecavalier

No more Vinny. As for now, it's a much tougher choice (though I did waver between Vinny and Marty a lot). I'd have to say Tyler Johnson I guess.

Favorite active player on another team: Fredrik Modin

Have not thought about this question in a long time! Kinda stumped without an ex-Bolt to go for. I guess Connor McDavid just because he's fun to watch for sure.

All time favorite player: Shawn Burr
Favorite teams in other sports: Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Tampa Bay Rays, South Florida Bulls, Florida Gators, Blackburn Rovers, Boca Juniors, all MLS teams but particularly LA Galaxy, Columbus Crew, and NE Revolution at the moment (bring back soccer to Tampa though please!)

Add the Tampa Bay Rowdies to the list. Scratch those MLS teams, though I still love watching random games. Sounders and Timbers in particular! Blackburn have been relegated so they're off the map for me. Enjoyed Leicester's run last year and follow Manchester City for all the Argentine players they have.

Favorite video/other games: Sonic the Hedgehog series, Half-Life series, World of Warcraft (which I HAVE stopped playing until the next expansion comes out), currently primarily a PC and Nintendo DS gamer so currently hooked on Team Fortress 2, Crysis, Bioshock, Phoenix Wright series, Elite Beat Agents, etc.

I've got all the consoles but my most consistent play right now is Final Fantasy XIV on PC. Love it way more I ever did WoW. Gorgeous game and perfectly balanced gameplay. The job system rocks. No more juggling a bunch of characters just to play different roles. My other addiction is Kantai Collection, which is a Japanese web game that involves anime girls representing WW2 ships (current avatar is one). But I also enjoy a lot of story driven games like Uncharted, Mass Effect, etc.

Favorite music: Anything 80s, other than that my taste is literally all over the place (techno, J-pop, ragtime, tango, classical, you name it)

Add ska to the eclectic mix, which I discovered a few years ago.

Favorite movies: Star Wars series, LOTR series, Miracle, Princess Mononoke, Ghost in the Shell, anything Jackie Chan, CGI stuff like Madagascar, Ratatouille
Favorite TV show: Naruto Shippuuden, Futurama

Crazy to think I've been watching Naruto almost 10 years and the main story arc finally ended a couple months ago! Wow. Kill la Kill, Shirobako, Space Dandy, and Space Battleship Yamato 2199 are some of my favorite anime of the past few years.

Recent non-anime favorites are Westworld and The Man in the High Castle.

Have any interesting hobbies? Anime (see above), playing with Photoshop, nature watching, reading about space and bio research

Anything else to share? I love cute and furry animals like arctic foxes. Not that I'm an "animal lover" or PETA member, or even a pet owner. Just think they're awesome. *shrug*

In my period between jobs I've been learning how to make video games so I may be putting something out in the future! It's pretty fun, though I won't have as much free time to work on it going forward. Maybe I'll make something hockey related one day, lol.

[astro]

Where were you born? Tampa, FL
Current hometown: Pasadena, CA ... soon to be Seattle
Ever live anywhere else?: Beaufort, SC, Irvine, CA, Okinawa, Japan and several other places for a short amount of time.... good ol' Marine Corps
Nationality/ethnicity: Irish and Puerto Rican
Job: Air Traffic Controller

Favorite hockey team: Lightning, Kings, and Seattle Thunderbirds
Why do you like them? I grew up in Tampa and automatically started to follow them. Kings- well, I live here and want a team that I can attend the games too.
Favorite hockey team as a kid (if different): Hockey? what's that. From the great coverage of hockey growing up, I didn't know what it was.
Least favorite: Flyers, Flames, Rangers and Red Wings
Favorite active player on your favorite team: Lecavalier, Kopitar
Favorite active player on another team: don't have one
All time favorite player if different: Lecavalier
Favorite teams in other sports: Bucs, Gators

Favorite video/other games: World of Warcraft, but I stopped playing....too time consuming. Currently playing World in Conflict
Favorite music: Old School Metal and Punk
Favorite Band: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Chevelle, Tool and Iron Maiden
Favorite movies: I don't really care for movies, but I do like Clockwork Orange and Meet Joe Black
Favorite TV show: Simpsons
Favorite beer or alcoholic beverage of choice: NewCastle
Have any interesting hobbies? Travelling

Anything else to share? I will be transferring to SEATAC some time this year (Between August and December). I am looking forward to it.

It's probably time for me to update this:

Where were you born? Tampa, FL

Current hometown: Seattle (West Seattle)

Ever live anywhere else?: Beaufort, SC, Irvine, CA, Okinawa, Japan and several other places for a short amount of time.... good ol' Marine Corps

Nationality/ethnicity: Irish and Puerto Rican

Job: Air Traffic Controller

Favorite hockey team: Lightning, Kings, and Seattle Thunderbirds

Why do you like them? I grew up in Tampa and automatically started to follow them. Kings- I used to live there and was a season ticket holder.

Favorite hockey team as a kid (if different): Hockey? what's that. From the great coverage of hockey growing up, I didn't know what it was.

Least favorite: Flyers, Rangers, Blackhawks and Red Wings

Favorite active player on your favorite team: Kucherov, Kopitar

Favorite active player on another team: Taransenko

All time favorite player if different: Lecavalier, St Louis

Favorite teams in other sports: Bucs, Seahawks

Favorite video/other games: X Com 2. I stopped playing video games.

Favorite music: Old School Metal and Punk

Favorite Band: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Chevelle, Tool and Iron Maiden

Favorite movies: I don't really have a favorite

Favorite TV show: Leftovers, Ray Donovan, Game of Thrones, West World

Favorite beer or alcoholic beverage of choice: Just about any Pacific Northwest IPA

Have any interesting hobbies? Travelling, brewing beer

[Hoek]

Awesome! I know you've been around a while but nice to get to know you more.

[WinnipegBoltsFan]

Where were you born? Winnipeg, Manitoba
Current hometown: Winnipeg, Manitoba
Live anywhere else? Briefly lived in Winkler
Job: Worked in the automotive industry my first 4 years out of high school, now I'm back in my parents basement to make things cheaper while I go back to school.

Favourite hockey team: Lightning
Why do you like them? I was ten years old during the 03/04 season when I was starting to really get into hockey. I had no team at the time when one day my older cousin gifted me his hockey card collection. Amongst the many card was a Vinny sophomore card. 10 year old me thought that was the coolest logo ever and Lecavalier sounded like a badass name. A Lightning obsession had begun.
Favourite hockey team as a kid? AHL but I attended loads of Manitoba Moose games.
Least favourite? Penguins, Sabres, Red Wings, Jets.
Favourite active player on your favourite team? Don't really have a favourite these days, Kucherov or Palat I guess.
All time favourite player? Vinny for sure. Adored him growing up, still not used to him being gone.
Favourite team in other sports? Watch a lot of Canadian football so I like my hometown bombers. Really enjoy baseball but don't really have a team.

Favourite video games? Only game I really play anymore is NHL 2004 lol.
Music: Rock mostly
TV shows: The Outer Limits, Futurama, Trailer Park Boys (best Canadian TV series ever made, its on Netflix now so you Americans can check it out)
Favourite beer or alcoholic beverage? Old Milwaukee. Can't think of anything else I've drank in the last year or so save for the odd glass of wine.
Any other hobbies? I love turn of the century Ocean Liners, have read hundreds of books on anything to do with the Titanic and others.

Anything else to share? I'm fairly new to this forum in terms of having an account but I've been a lurker since it opened. Didn't have a PC that could handle streaming hockey games until around 2011 so until then I listened to Dave and Phil call about 60-70 games a year and constantly refresh GDT's on here and HF boards to try keep up with the action. Between TSN and CBC I could catch maybe 8-10 games a year on TV so that was always a nice treat for me. Have always loved this forum for the knowledgeable posting and insightful prospect write ups.

[RSchmitz]

Hey Everyone, just saw this thread, just so everyone knows a little about me, figured I would make a post here...

Where were you born? Yonkers NY
Current hometown: White Plains NY
Ever live anywhere else?: Have a seasonal house by Sarasota FL
Nationality/ethnicity: Italian
Job: Executive Agent, my company insures Ryan Callahan.

Favorite hockey team: Tampa Bay Lightning, NY Rangers (if you know me already and know my story we made amends, lol)
Why do you like them? Started to follow Tampa since the Callahan trade, And also because have a house less than an hour away from Amalie. Feel in love with the area down there. As per Rangers, its NYC nuff said.
Favorite hockey team as a kid (if different): Just Rangers.
Least favorite: Hate Pittsburgh
Favorite active player on your favorite team: Callahan, Stepan
Favorite active player on another team: Kesler and Backes
All time favorite player if different: dont have a hockey one but other sports.. Derek Jeter, Dan Marino
Favorite teams in other sports: Yankees, Miami Dolphins

Favorite video/other games: Final Fantasy, Zelda, Metal Gear Solid
Favorite music: So many to list but big U2, Bon Jovi, Def Leppard fan, and as of late Foo Fighters, The Killers, Matchbox Twenty
Favorite movies: Zootopia (my cousin worked on film), Fifth Element, Die Hard, Galaxy Quest, Big Hero 6, and Wreck it Ralph.
Favorite TV show: Family Guy, 24, Designated Survivor, Stargate series, and many more.
Favorite beer or alcoholic beverage of choice: Been on an imperial stout kick for some reason
Have any interesting hobbies? Play guitar, and write music.

Anything else to share? Yeah i love theme parks.

Anyway nice to meet everyone here.

Welcome Nick, it's nice to have you aboard

[Nick of Time]

I have a 3rd way of looking at Cally's contract. I look at Cally as overpaid if you only look at him and what he does for the team. I view his contract as just fine if you count Stralman and Boyle signing with us as well.

He brought us 2 players we desperately needed and who've worked out nicely for us.

Yeah good point. Him and Boyle are very good friends. He still needs to produce and can understand some fans frustrations and think when he gets back healthy and given the opportunity he will.

[ZeykShade]

I have a 3rd way of looking at Cally's contract. I look at Cally as overpaid if you only look at him and what he does for the team. I view his contract as just fine if you count Stralman and Boyle signing with us as well.

He brought us 2 players we desperately needed and who've worked out nicely for us.

[Nick of Time]

Boy Nick, we seem to have similar interests (minus all the NY teams, but I don't have a hatred for them either like I do Pitt/Boston). That Cally connection is really interesting. I have such a tough time with him. On one hand, I have been on the way overpaid/never should have signed band wagon since the beginning. That said, all I have ever seen is what a great person he really is (including a game in Columbus where while they were warming up he skated over big smiles to waive at my 3 year old). If a guy is going to get overpaid, I'm glad it's a guy like him. Great read on your background, thanks.

Yeah I expect some Tampa fans to not be happy with the Cally contract but don't want to debate it too much here it's what got me in trouble over at HF. Lol. I'll just say I know he is overpaid, and hope he gets back healthy and shows he has plenty of gas left in the tank and will make his contract easier to swallow.

Also cool that we have similar interests! Can always chat about stuff not Tampa related. Think that's awesome.

[BurnTHalO]

Boy Nick, we seem to have similar interests (minus all the NY teams, but I don't have a hatred for them either like I do Pitt/Boston). That Cally connection is really interesting. I have such a tough time with him. On one hand, I have been on the way overpaid/never should have signed band wagon since the beginning. That said, all I have ever seen is what a great person he really is (including a game in Columbus where while they were warming up he skated over big smiles to waive at my 3 year old). If a guy is going to get overpaid, I'm glad it's a guy like him. Great read on your background, thanks.

[Nick of Time]

Now that part I didn't know! Adds another level to the Callahan thing, lol.

Cally is a great guy, but he won't play forever. Like I said would not have joined a Bolts prospect forum if I did not put Tampa first. It's been great following not only Tampa but the Crunch now.

[Nick of Time]

For those of us who don't know you, can you explain how you can root for two teams in the same conference? And are you one of those jerks who changes into a Rags jersey when they visit, and then talk shit to your "fellow Lightning fans"?

No not one of those jerks, Tampa is first and will always be first, would never of joined this forum if I felt otherwise. Living right outside of NYC its hard not to root for the local team as well, and also like some of players on that team. Let's just say was happy with the outcome of the 2015 ECF. Lol.