President Joe Biden joked that Steven Stamkos was getting old after playing in the NHL for 14 seasons, praised the Tampa Bay Lightning for their vaccine efforts and avoided politics while honoring the team for winning the Stanley Cup in each of the past two seasons.
In a rare sports break amid his administration's response to Russia's war in Ukraine, the president on Monday referred to first lady Biden's attendance at a vaccine event at the home arena of the Lightning.
Biden said that the first lady was at the arena during the election season, but not during the playoffs. She shows up when people win. It's just something to think about.
While talking about the Lighting's back-to-back title runs, Biden made little mention of players other than Stamkos. Vasilevskiy was the playoffs' most valuable player last year, while Kucherov was the top scorer.
Sergachev shared photos of the three players around the White House on social media. There were no noticeable absences, and a few players from the 2020 championship team who had left or retired made appearances.
The team made a third trip to the nation's capital in eight months after visiting the Washington Caps twice this season. After playing at the Florida panthers on Sunday, the Lightning flew home and will face the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday in one of their final games of the regular season.
All of the players tried to make it, and it was a great tradition that we have: You become part of the team.
Despite winning the Stanley Cup three times, the organization had never visited a sitting president at the White House. The second of these back-to-back championships was delayed until nine months after the first because of the 2004-05 NHL Lockout.
Stamkos said it was a long time in the making, but it was worth the wait.
Stamkos deferred to McDonagh to speak on behalf of the team at the ceremony. The players and coach were most impressed by Biden inviting them to the Oval Office to chat after the game.
Cooper said that he has an amazing ability to wipe that persona aside and be a human being like he was a teammate. You can see why he was elected.
Biden praised the area for the baseball team reaching the World Series in 2020 and the football team winning the Super Bowl months later. He said the Lightning may be here next year.
The New York Islanders dynasty of the early 1980s is the only other team to win the Cup three years in a row.
The hunger is still there, and this will heighten the excitement going into the last week.
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