An outdoor rink in Florida? A young Bolts fan has his wish granted

The Children's Dream Fund works tirelessly to fulfill the wishes of children suffering from life-threatening illness throughout West Central Florida.
Weston Hermann, an 11 year old from Parrish, had a dream, however, that left even the miracle workers at the Children's Dream Fund stumped, wondering, "How are we ever going to make this wish happen?"
Weston wanted an outdoor hockey rink.
In Florida.

"I didn't know how to respond to that," remembered Lisa Hawk, dream coordinator with the Children's Dream Fund, about her initial meeting with Weston over eggs and bacon at his favorite breakfast spot.
Weston was realistic. The rink wouldn't be made of ice. Instead, he had his eye on a synthetic ice surface similar to the one Tampa Bay Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov installed in his garage last summer to work on his stickhandling during the offseason. The 18" x 18" polyethylene plastic tiles provide a smooth, slick surface to practice on; are designed for use with actual hockey skates, blades and all; and could be easily connected and disassembled to form a rink wherever the user desired.
Weston wanted his synthetic ice rink to go in the back yard, unless he could convince his mom to allow him to place the tiles throughout their house so he could skate from the bedroom to the kitchen to the family room.
"There might be some furniture rearranging," Marcie Hermann, Weston's mom, said, laughing. "That's okay with me."
Four years ago, doctors discovered a cancerous tumor in Weston's brain. He's been in and out of the hospital ever since, undergoing surgeries and multiple rounds of chemotherapy. Recent prognosis show positive signs.
Weston got into hockey after watching his older sister take skating lessons. His mom, Marcie, is Canadian, although she never played the sport herself. The family lives near the Ellenton Ice and Sports Complex.
"He just got to love the sport, took skating lessons and I think it's something to do with hockey that once it's in your blood, it doesn't leave," Marcie Hermann said. "It's just a passion that he has."
In October, Weston and his family were invited to take part in Lightning head coach Jon Cooper's second annual Coop's Catch for Kids, which raises money for pediatric cancer patients. Weston went out on a fishing boat with Kucherov and Mikhail Sergachev, got to hang out with Cooper and made friends with the coach and players. A few weeks later, Weston came to a Lightning practice at AMALIE Arena and was brought onto the ice to lead the Bolts' post-practice stretch circle, run some two-on-none drills with Steven Stamkos and shoot one-timers off feeds from Yanni Gourde.
"(Weston) is inspired by them," Marcie Hermann said.
Thursday, on the back patio of a clubhouse in Weston's Harrison Ranch neighborhood, the Children's Dream Fund made Weston's outdoor skating rink a reality.
After sending the youngster in a limo to lunch to eat pizza with his friends, Weston returned to find his hockey rink laid out on the patio surrounded by family members, ThunderBug, Lightning Girls, Lightning alum Paul Ysebaert and members of the local media. On one end of the rink was a regulation-size net. Next to the rink was a table with balloons, cake and hockey-related gifts from the Lightning and the Children's Dream Fund.
"I knew I was getting it, but I didn't know I was getting extra stuff," Weston said. "I didn't know I was getting a net. I didn't know ThunderBug was going to be here. I didn't know any of that stuff. I just knew the tiles were going to be here."
Added Hawk: "I was thinking maybe he could visit the team, and he was like, 'Well, they're already my friends.'…So he had dreamed that he could skate and have this opportunity, and of course the Lightning have been amazing partners and being able to come out and make this even better for him. I know he's so pumped. He actually didn't know that part was happening, so it was just sort of an extra special surprise for him."
After the initial shock wore off, Weston and his buddies laced up the skates, hit the (synthetic) ice and took turns shooting on the new net with ThunderBug serving as goaltender.
"I love it. It's just so much fun," Weston said. "It's a lot better than I thought it was going to be. It's a lot bigger, the space, definitely a lot bigger than I thought it was going to be…Living in Florida, you don't ever have your own ice rink. But now I do. I just love it so much."
Weston said his favorite player is Stamkos although now that he's been playing some goaltender he studies Andrei Vasilevskiy and likes the way he plays too. And of course there's his fishing pal Kucherov.
But Weston has one more dream he wants to fulfill.
He wants to join his Lightning pals in the NHL one day.
"He said this dream is to help him get to his ultimate dream," Marcie Hermann said. "So, like, go for it, right?"