Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

The White House

While honoring NHL champion Lightning, Biden stays away from politics

While honoring NHL champion Lightning, Biden stays away from politics, Transatlantic Today

WASHINGTON (Transatlantic Today) — Joe Biden joked that after 14 seasons in the NHL, Steven Stamkos was getting old, applauded the Tampa Bay Lightning’s vaccination efforts, and largely dodged politics while congratulating the club for lifting the Stanley Cup in each of the last 2 seasons. 

In a rare pause from his administration’s answer to Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine, president mentioned first lady Jill Biden’s participation at a vaccination event at the Lightning’s home field last year and praised the team on having won 2 pandemic championships: one in a vacant building in a quarantined bubble and the other in front of a big crowd in Tampa. 

While discussing the Lightning’s back-to-back championship wins, Biden said nothing about the players apart from Stamkos, who relied highly on Russian forward Nikita Kucherov, goalkeeper Andrei Vasilevskiy, and defender Mikhail Sergachev. Last year’s playoff MVP was Vasilevskiy, and Kucherov was the leading scorer in both rounds. 

All 3 players were in attendance, and Sergachev posted images of them on social media from around the White House. According to ABC NEWS, there were no notable oversights, and a few athletes from the Lightning’s 2020 championship squad who had gone or retired even made an appearance. 

The squad traveled to the country’s capital for the third time in 8 months, having already visited the Washington Capitals twice this season. The Lightning traveled home late Sunday night following a game against the Florida Panthers, and will face the Columbus Blue Jackets this Tuesday in one of their final regular matches before the playoffs start next week. 

Despite lifting the Stanley Cup 3 times (in 2004, 2020, and 2021), it was the Lightning’s first trip to the White House with a serving president. The NHL lockout in 2004-05 stopped the squad from visiting, and the pandemic postponed the chance until 9 months after the 2nd of these back-to-back titles.

Biden scored some brownie points by praising the Tampa Bay region for the Rays’ World Series appearance in 2020 and the Buccaneers’ Super Bowl victory a year later. 

The Lightning are back among the NHL’s elite teams, and they’re aiming to become the first club since the early 1980s’ New York Islanders dynasty to win the Cup 3 years in a row.

You May Also Like

Europe

Ukrainian officials have spoken of establishing territorial defense units and partisan warfare, but they admit that these resources are insufficient to thwart a Russian...

Features

As Russia continues its invasion of Ukraine, it does so while featuring neo-nazi mercenaries from groups like the Wagner Group and others.

Society

New York (Transatlantic Today) – Is watching bestiality illegal? The topic of bestiality, defined as the act of a human engaging in sexual activity...

Features

The current circumstances involving Russian ambitions to acquire, in the eyes of the international community at least, or, at the very least, preserve as...