Lightning visit to Amway Center excites local fans

David Hough loves hockey. He loves his granddaughter, Olivia Stolz, more, so imagine his reaction when she asked him to teach her how to skate. Hough said Olivia, now a fifth-grader, was about 4 years old at the time of the inquiry — she said 3 — and he asked only for a bit of clarification.

Did she want to be a skater or a hockey player?

“She goes, ‘Oh, no, Poppa. I don’t want to wear my bathing suit on the ice. I want to wear armor,’ ” Hough said. “I said, ‘Let’s go sign up for Learn to Skate Hockey.’ ”

Hough, his wife Nadine and Olivia are expected to be in attendance when the Tampa Bay Lightning play the Florida Panthers in an NHL exhibition game Thursday night at Amway Center. Fox Sports Sun’s broadcast will begin at 7 p.m.

The Lightning’s first visit to Orlando since 2013 — and the 12th time they have played here overall since joining the NHL for the 1992-93 season — is a big thrill for Central Florida hockey fans. The figure Lightning announced a threeyear affiliation agreement with the ECHL’s Orlando Solar Bears last month.

“Normally, if you get to Tampa, it’s a hassle to get out there [to the Lightning’s home ice at Amalie Arena],” physical therapist Joe Santiago of Apopka said. “It’s a two-hour drive if you’re lucky to try to get out of work and try to get there. It’s just so much easier.”

Originally from Puerto Rico, Santiago, 44, played street hockey in Rochester, N.Y., after his family moved from Houston. He plays forward in an adult league, and proving again that appreciation of sports spans generations, his sons — Armando, 11, and Marco, 9 — play, too.

Lawyer Jason Rosenthal plans to attend the Lightning-Panthers game tonight with his sons, 13-year-old Shane and 9-year-old Josh, and other members of the Central Florida Hockey Club.

“It’s going to be just a big hockey party,” said Rosenthal, a Baldwin Park resident.

The game should be dress rehearsal.

Coming off a season in which a nice