The character even had a Lightning flag underwater, along with a Stadium Series poster and even a hockey stick.
The Lightning host the Boston Bruins at Raymond James Stadium (home to the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers) on Sunday (6:30 p.m. ET; ESPN, SN, TVAS).
On Tuesday, the NHL unveiled its design on the field around the ice, inspired by the city’s Gasparilla Pirate Fest, the annual event that brings over 500,000 people to town. The event takes place on the same weekend as the Stadium Series.
Back in 2018, the NHL hosted the All-Star Game in Tampa, which also happened to fall on Gasparilla weekend.
"When we decided to come to Tampa for All-Star, we must admit we knew very little about Gasparilla, and everybody had talked to us about, ‘Oh, you've got to partner, you've got to figure out a way to join them,’” said NHL president of content and events Steve Mayer. "And we did our research. And then we had a great weekend. I mean, it was fantastic.
“And we thought the integration went as well as it could have. So when we were deciding to do the game this year, listen, it just fell perfectly again, right into Gasparilla weekend.”
The teams and the League will be playing into the Gasparilla and pirate theme all weekend long, along with the rest of the city.
"We're really proud of this one," Mayer said. "Obviously, we've leaned in, as we said we were going to do all along, to Tampa, to the Lightning and to Gasparilla, which is a big part of the theme of the game that we'll have on Sunday.”
NHL.com independent correspondent Corey Long contributed to this report
