Abdelkader Confident Red Wings Fans Could Circumvent Lightning's Ban On Non-Florida Fans
By Ashley Dunkak
@AshleyDunkak
CBS DETROIT - In an effort to create a more one-sided atmosphere at its home arena during the upcoming NHL playoffs, the Tampa Bay Lightning will only be selling tickets to Florida residents.
Those who try to buy tickets to the Lightning's home playoff games with a credit card that has an address in a state other than Florida will have their orders canceled without notice, according to the team's Ticketmaster page.
Detroit Red Wings goaltender Jimmy Howard laughed out loud at Tampa Bay's tactic.
"That's unbelievable," Howard said with a grin. "But, I remember in '08 and '09 when we were playing Pittsburgh they did the same thing, so I guess it's up to the organization.
"I don't blame them," Howard continued. "You get a lot of transplants down there, you get a lot of probably teams from the north that draw a lot of fans. I know personally from when we go down there, there's a lot of Red Wings fans, so it'll be curious to see."
Forward Justin Abdelkader was also surprised to learn of Tampa Bay's ban of non-Florida fans.
"That's the first I heard," Abdelkader said. "Maybe they're copycatting off what [the NFL's Seattle Seahawks] did when Seattle, when they played San Francisco they didn't allow California residents to get tickets. I don't know. I think that's interesting. I don't know if the league will have something to say about that or not, but if they can sell the tickets, they can sell the tickets. I know if we were to play Tampa there would be a lot of Florida residents that are Red Wings fans, so I don't know if it'd affect us too much, but that's interesting to hear."
Howard did not believe it would be too much of a detriment to the Red Wings - who could meet Tampa Bay in the first round of the playoffs - even if the Lightning succeeded in keeping some fans away.
"It's the playoffs," Howard said. "In the playoffs you expect to go into hostile territory. It'd be no different than years past playing in Anaheim or in Chicago and Boston where the fans really energize their team."
Abdelkader does not expect Red Wings fans would be deterred by the restrictions at all.
"There's tickets on StubHub, there's tickets you can get before the game, so I think maybe they're trying to make an effort, but it's going to be hard for them to keep other fans out," Abdelkader said.
"They'll find a way," Abdelkader added. "Where there's a will, there's a way."
