U.S. President Joe Biden has welcomed the Tampa Bay Lightning to the White House to celebrate the National Hockey League team’s back-to-back Stanley Cup championships.
He and his fellow Democrats battle with the Republican governor running the team’s home state of Florida.
Monday’s visit was the Tampa Bay team’s first-ever visit to the White House to celebrate a Stanley Cup championship win.
The team was unable to visit the White House earlier to celebrate their 2020 and 2021 wins due to COVID-19 concerns. The team’s 2004 victory, the Lightning’s first-ever Stanley Cup win, was not celebrated by then-President George W. Bush amid an NHL labor dispute.
The Lightning’s victories in 2020 and 2021 made the team only the third back-to-back Stanley Cup champions in the last quarter-century.
