TAMPA, Fla. — Even in the offseason, the Tampa Bay Lightning are helping to grow the game of hockey in the community.
The organization hosts a girls' summer camp, providing young athletes with the opportunity to refine their skills.
WATCH: Lightning legend Pat Maroon helps at girls' summer hockey camp
“My dad started playing, he taught me, showed me how to play,” Alyson Hobbs, 10, said. “I just fell in love with it.”
Lightning legend Pat Maroon, who is newly retired, stopped by to help.
“I don’t know if half of them know me. Maybe they do, I don’t know,” Maroon, 37, said. “But it's great coming out here and helping with the Lightning organization.”
Oh, these kids know.
“It’s very cool,” Hobbs said. “I got heartbroken when he retired. I am so happy he’s here today.
“To have Pat out there with the girls is really huge,” Lightning hockey development coordinator Kelley Steadman said. “There aren’t a lot of teams that have guys that will make that effort. Just to have them out there and to let the girls and families see that lighter side of the guys is really fun.”
Sixty girls between the ages of 5-15 are attending the five-day camp at the TGH Ice Plex.
“When we were kids growing up we didn’t have that,” Steadman added. “We all played boys’ hockey, which was great. We didn’t have role models to look up to that some of the girls do now.”
Maroon played 14 seasons in the NHL, four with the Lightning, and won two Stanley Cups. He now focuses on building the game through these camps.
“When you retire, we want to try to give back and do as much as you can to help not only girls’ hockey, boys’ hockey, in the community stuff,” he said. “Just keep growing, bring new fans in, and help the Lightning. This is fun for me. It gets me out of the house.”
Maroon is also a Girl Dad. He has two young daughters back home, so he knows the importance of getting girls involved in ice hockey at a young age.
“I think growing the game and expanding girls’ hockey and finding avenues for them to a spot where they feel like they’re important,” Maroon said. “We want to get everyone involved. It’s not just a guy’s sport. It’s an everyone sport for us."
"We don't come home until they do."
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