Lightning to participate in rookie tournament in Coral Springs

The Tampa Bay Lightning announced it will be participating in a rookie tournament in Coral Springs along with three other NHL teams. The tournament will be held at the Saveology IcePlex, the practice facility of the Florida Panthers. The Lightning will be participating along with the Panthers, Nashville Predators, and Boston Bruins.

Tournament games will be played September 6-8, with Tampa Bay playing one game each day for a total of three games.

The Lightning will prepare for the rookie tournament by opening camp on September 4 at the Tampa Bay Times Forum. The Bolts will hold another practice on September 5 before traveling south to Coral Springs for the tournament. Both practices at the Forum are free and open to the public.

Twenty four players will represent the Lightning at the rookie tournament including a multitude of the teams’ hottest prospects going into the season, including third overall selection in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft, Jonathan Drouin.

Adam Erne, another 2013 draftee, will also be participating in the tournament. It will be interesting to see how well Erne plays, especially after his impressive performance at the USA World Junior Championship Evaluation Camp in Lake Placid, NY earlier in August.

College free-agebt signings Andrej Sustr and J.T Brown will both be participating. Brown played in five games with the Lightning in the 2011-2012 season and Sustr played two games in Tampa Bay, but more importantly, both helped the Syracuse Crunch reach the Calder Cup Final last season.

The Lightning’s goaltenders for the rookie camp include invitee Eric Brassard and Kristers Gudlevskis. Gudlevskis was drafted by Tampa Bay in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft.

Some other Tampa Bay prospects participating in the tournament are Vladislav Namestnikov, Tanner Richard, Nikita Kucherov, Slater Koekkoek Cedric Paquette, Dylan Blujus, and Nikita Nesterov.

Left off of the rookie tournament roster was Brett Connolly, Richard Panik, Ondrej Palat, and Tyler Johnson who have not only graduated from the developmental ranks. They’ll be gearing up for Lightning training camp which is less than three weeks away.

Below is the full game schedule and for the Lightning at the rookie tournament. All games are free and open to the public but fans must register at FloridaPanthers.com/trainingcamp and print out a ticket prior to attending.

Date Time Opponent

Friday, Sept. 6          2 p.m.            Nashville Predators

Saturday, Sept. 7      Noon             Boston Bruins

Sunday, Sept. 8        4 p.m.            Florida Panthers

PROJECTED LIGHTNING ROOKIE CAMP ROSTER