From the Thunderdome to three banners
i remember the thunderdome days, honestly, half-empty concrete barn, but the diehards were loud enough to make you think it was packed. funny what sticks with a fella after all these years 😄 and then june 2004, vinny lifting that cup at the st. pete times forum... i nearly went through my ceiling. from the thunderdome to three banners - what a ride we've had, lads.
Watching Vinny hoist it as a kid on my couch in Ottawa, dad yelling loud enough the neighbours complained 😂 good days boys, get in! 🏆⚡
On the terraces since I was a kid.
funny, kev, my first memory is the thunderdome too, sat in the cheap seats with my old man, paid next to nothing and thought we'd hit the jackpot 😄 but june 2004 is the one burned in, i hugged a total stranger in a bolts jersey and we both just bawled like kids. you watch as long as i have and you'll get it: nights like that come once in a lifetime, if you're lucky 😉
Remember when the grass was greener 🌱
Great thread, lads. My first memory is actually grainy TV footage of the Thunderdome days, and I'll say this much: comparing the 04 group to the current crew, that team felt like a family that surprised everyone, while today's version carries the weight of expectation every night - different kind of pressure, both easy to love. Vinny lifting it still gives me chills though. 📊
I keep my own tables 📊
my first one's a bit humbler than you fellas'. Standing in line for the thunderdome overflow seats with a buddy, paid like 15 bucks a head and we still complained about the price 😄 the sound in that place when it actually filled up, though. baseball crowd come to watch hockey and half of them didn't know the rules, but man did they cheer.
as for june '04 - i'm with dave, i hugged strangers too. watched it at a buddy's place in barrie, and when vinny grabbed that cup the two of us just went quiet for a second, like we didn't trust it. then the shouting started and didn't stop till tuesday. jack's right that the current lads carry heavier expectations, sure, but that '04 crew? the young lot never saw what it was like when nobody expected a thing from us and we won anyway. that flavour you can't buy back 😉
Fifteen bucks a head and you complained? Veteran, you'd have wept at what my old man paid to sneak us into the Thunderdome nosebleeds — and I'm still not sure half those "overflow" seats legally existed 😄
Kev, I'll gently push back on the half-empty barn line: those diehards you mention were doing the heavy lifting the whole time, and that's exactly why June 2004 hit the way it did. Vinny hoisting it with the whole St. Pete Times Forum shaking. I watched it on Hockey Night in Canada replay tape for weeks after. Different kind of team now, sure, but don't tell me the 04 crew "surprised everyone" like it was luck. They earned every ounce of it. Small sample of memories in this thread though - where are the Fedotenko believers, lads? 📊
Context beats a bare stat.
My first memory is 2004 on a buddy's couch, crying into a two-four while he filmed me like it was a nature doc 🤣 Vinny lifts that Cup and I still lose it, hold my pint 🍿😂
Hold my pint.