Lightning Made camp at Ellenton Ice and Sports Comlex breaks attendance record
ELLENTON
The Ellenton Ice and Sports Complex is usually decked out with Lightning flags and logos and posters. This week there was a new sign.
"WELCOME LIGHTNING MADE CAMP!" was hand written on a whiteboard just inside the automatic sliding doors at the Ellenton Ice entrance. Every year Lightning Made is a major draw in Ellenton and this year, in the wake of Tampa Bay's run to the Stanley Cup Finals, the camp had its biggest turnout yet.
With 47 campers, an increase of nearly 10 from a year ago, Tampa's community hockey coordinator Tom Garavaglia was impressed by the consistent attendance increase at Ellenton Ice. Even on Monday, the first day of camp, Lightning Made picked up additional players throughout the morning. For the next few days -- the camp runs through Friday -- Ellenton will be dealing with an impressive turnout.
"This is the one location that goes up every year," Garavaglia said. "This is facility is one of the better facilities in the area, that's No. 1. I think they have great coaching here -- No. 2 -- not only with us, but the hockey director's great."
Garavaglia was on the ice Monday working with former Tampa Bay players Chris Dingman, Jassen Cullimore and Niki
ta Alexeev. Throughout the week, a handful of other former players will filter in as coaches and Ellenton promises a "special guest appearance by a current member of the Tampa Bay Lightning."
Tom Lindemuth, the general manager of the Ellenton Ice and Sports Complex, is at the point where he expects a bump in attendance for the Lightning Made camp regardless of Tampa's performance -- Tampa Bay's playoff run could only help.
Before a second round series, Tampa worked in conjunction with Ellenton to host a festival oon the grounds. As Tampa Bay continued to win games, Lindemuth watched learn-to-skate class attendance spike and now there are 20 participants in one for adults.
Usually Lightning Made is one of the few draws to Ellenton during this relatively dead part of year at the iceplex. This year, thanks in part to Tampa, it's just been one aspect of an unusually busy time of year.
"They really treat us well. We're kind of the odd rink out," Lindemuth said. Tampa practices at a rink in Brandon, has a sponsorship agreement with another in Clearwater and has a minor league team in Fort Myers. "We were expecting a boost no matter what. We had a good relationship with them all year."
Manatee begins at Babe Ruth 10u state tourney
A year after reaching the state tournament as a 9U team, Manatee will begin at the 2015 10u South Florida State Tournament in Lakeland Highlands on Thursday after being one of four teams to earn a first round bye.
At 1 p.m., Manatee will face the winner of the earlier East Bay-South Lake game for a spot in the quarterfinals. The 12-team tournament is a double elimination format and can be decided as early as Sunday.
The champion will advance to the regional tournament in Glen Allen, Va., which starts on July 22. The World Series begins Aug. 8 in Jonesboro, Ark.
Little League tournaments
Two of the four Florida District 26 Little League All-Star baseball champions will be in Lake Wales this weekend for the first set of section IV tournaments with a spot in the state tournament on the line.
Both the 9/10 champion Manatee American and intermediate champion Palmetto will open up their sectional tournaments at 8:30 p.m. on Friday against the District 25 champions.
Manatee will follow its opener up with three games Saturday to finish the round robin while Palmetto will only have one more at 9 a.m. on Saturday
The following weekend will feature trips to Lake Wales for Manatee County's other two division champions, including the majors champion Lakewood Ranch. Ranch will begin its tournament on July 17 at 8 p.m. against District 25 champion Dade City. At the same time, junior division champion Manatee West will open up against D25's Land O' Lakes.
David B. Wilson, Herald sports writer, can be reached at 941-745-7057. Follow him on Twitter @DBWilson2.