Everything we saw at Tampa Bay Lightning’s Stanley Cup boat parade and party

In the before time, October would more or less mark the beginning of a new NHL season, but these days are far from normal, and a season which kicked off nearly 365 days ago just wrapped on Monday.

Still, the last half-decade’s winningest pro hockey franchise, your Tampa Bay Lightning, put forth a Herculean effort and won what many are calling the most difficult Stanley Cup championship in the history of the more than 100-year-old tournament. And how else would this most extraordinary team celebrate than by throwing a very-Tampeño championship parade on the water so that fans—gathered on the Riverwalk, somewhat reasonably, but still dangerously close to each other considering the global pandemic—could salute the Bolts before a select few could gather at Raymond James Stadium for the most socially-distanced award presentation in the history of Tampa Bay.

All photos by Nicole Abbett unless captioned with Dan Fwenandez’s byline.. —Ray Roa