President Joe Biden honored the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday for their 2020 and 2021 Stanley Cup wins, marking the first time a championship-winning National Hockey League team has celebrated at the White House since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Florida-based team defeated the Dallas Stars in the 2020 finals in six games, a period in which the NHL and other professional leagues conducted their games in a „bubble“ away from fans. They followed up that championship by beating the Montreal Canadiens during in five games in the 2021 finals. Biden called the hockey team „one of the most well-rounded teams in recent memory.“ „This team joined rare company — one of only eight teams over the last century to win two Stanley Cups in a row,“ the President noted during the celebration ceremony on the White House South Lawn. „And I know that those two championships are very different.“ Speaking to the differences between the 2020 and 2021 championships, Biden said, „In 2020, your fans watched a win from thousands of miles away as you as you competed in the bubble in Edmonton due to the pandemic. But this past season, you got to deliver something truly special — hosting the Cup on your home ice in front of the Tampa faithful.“ The President also credited the team for its community service, including a program that delivered „more than $25 million in charitable causes.
