Locals Help The Bolts Bring Home The Cup!

Tampa Bay Lightning head trainer Tom Mulligan & chiropractor Tim Bain may not have laced ‘em up, but they did contribute to the second Stanley Cup in team history!

Tampa Bay Lightning head trainer Tom Mulligan (holding the Stanley Cup) and his family (l.-r., Tyler, Abby, Zachary & Kellie) finally got to celebrate Tom’s second Cup win with the Bolts on Sept. 30. (Photo provided by Tom Mulligan)

The first Tampa Bay Lightning game of the NHL postseason went to one overtime, then two, three, four and five.

In between periods, Arbor Greene resident Tom Mulligan, the team’s head trainer, scrambled to tend to cramps and injuries, keep the players hydrated and their energy levels up with grilled chicken, slices of pizza and bananas.

“It was controlled chaos in between periods,” Mulligan says.

And, unbridled joy afterwards. When Brayden Point scored the game-winning goal to give the Lightning the 3-2, five-overtime win over Columbus, it set off a raucous celebration and catapulted Tampa Bay on a run that would eventually lead to the team’s second Stanley Cup championship.

“That night, I felt this could be something special,” Mulligan says. “It was six hours, and just to see the controlled chaos in between periods was something. It really was all hands on deck. We still needed 15 more wins after that, but if that would have turned out differently, who knows what happens?”

The Lightning ended up getting those 15 wins. After dropping the first game of the Stanley Cup finals to Dallas, the Lightning won the next four, including a 2-0 shutout pitched by goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy to clinch the title.

For many, including Mulligan — one of the few staffers remaining from the 2004 crew that took home the team’s first Cup — it was a long time coming. There have been a series of close calls in recent years, including a conference finals loss in 2018 and mostly noticeably, a devastating sweep by Columbus in the first round last year after the team tied an NHL record with 62 wins.

“We won it in my second year in the NHL, and I thought, ‘This isn’t so bad,’” Mulligan says, chuckling. “We had most of the team back, we’re going to have more chances. Then the years start ticking by, players come and go, and you realize: it’s not that easy.”

Mulligan is still coming down off the high of his second cup. There are few things like hockey celebrations, and Mulligan says Tampa outdid itself with the homecoming boat parade along the Hillsborough River and subsequent party held at Raymond James Stadium.

The most recognizable trophy in sports, Mulligan says he is hoping to be able to bring the Stanley Cup to New Tampa. It is a tradition that each member of the organization gets to spend at least a day with the trophy. In 2004, he took the Cup to Massachusetts to share with his parents. 

While he is not sure of the parameters this year, due to Covid-19, he and wife Kelly have some ideas for a New Tampa celebration.

“That’s the plan,” he says.

But first, some family time is in order. Mulligan spent 65 days in the NHL bubble, first in Toronto and then in Edmonton.

Counting a few days of quarantining before he left Tampa, he was away from wife Kellie and their three children for a total of more than 70 days.

In 2004, only son Tyler had been born; he was 14 months old when the Lightning won the cup. Tyler is now 17-years old and a senior at Wharton, and since, brother Zachary, 15, and sister Abby, 13 have joined the family.

“It was really special coming home with the Cup and seeing them,” Tom says. He laments the sports and school events he has had to miss because of his job, and the bubble isolation made that even more difficult.

“They have had to make a lot of sacrifices over the course of their lives,” he says, but adds that they are all old enough now to truly appreciate what dad does and the significance of winning the Stanley Cup.

And, he was able to return home in time for Abby’s 13th birthday on Oct. 5. He told her before he left Edmonton he was bringing her a special present. 

“She probably won’t ever get another gift like it,” he says. — JCC

Dr. Tim Bain hoists the Stanley Cup.
(Photo provided by Dr. Tim Bain)

Bain Helps Victorious Bolts Deal With Aches & Pains

Wesley Chapel resident Tim Bain, D.C. (Doctor of Chiropractic), who has been the Lightning’s official team chiropractic physician since 2009, says he actually has been treating Lightning players since a year or two before the Bolts won their first Stanley Cup in 2004.

“I had just moved to the area and was living in West Meadows, along with a number of Lightning players, including Marty St. Louis, Nikolai Khabibulin and Fredrik Modin,” Bain says, “and Tom Mulligan, who was already the team’s trainer, started sending some of the players my way.”

Fast forward to the unique season of 2019-20, and both Mulligan and Bain were among the 52 players, coaches and staff sent by the Bolts to live in the NHL’s “bubble” in Toronto for this year’s no-fans, two-bubble (the other was in Edmonton) playoff format. And, when the Lightning emerged victorious 65 days after first entering the Toronto bubble, Dr. Bain was among those celebrating with the new Cup champs.

“There’s no doubt that hockey players are among the toughest of all professional athletes,” says Bain, whose office is in the Cory Lake Professional Center on Cross Creek Blvd. “They don’t like to come off the ice or complain about their aches and pains. But, once the team started to embrace the idea of chiropractic care, they could see that they could recover from injuries faster and get back on the ice even faster.” 

Bain adds that with the even-quicker-than-usual turnaround times between games (because of not having to travel) in this year’s playoff format, he was even busier caring for the players than usual. He also was the person responsible for conducting concussion protocols for the players who sustained head injuries. 

One of the Bolts’ players who attracted the most attention for his ongoing injury woes was, of course, team captain Steven Stamkos. Although the nature of his injury was never revealed, Bain says no one worked harder to get himself back into playing shape than Stammer.

“Even though he only played 2:47 in one game (Game 3 of the Cup final series against Dallas) of the entire playoffs,” Bain says, “I think the goal he scored while he was in there got the entire team as excited as the moment we won the Cup. Even though he ended up not seeing the ice again, he gave the whole team such a huge lift.”

Bain agrees with Mulligan that the hardest thing about their time in the bubble for all of the Lightning players and staff was being separated from their families for so long.

“I have a tendency to get homesick anyway, even just on road trips,” Bain says. “But, having to spend 70 days away from my wife and children was even harder. Especially when we shifted to the Edmonton bubble (for the last two playoff series), there was literally nothing for us to do. Being able to come home and celebrate winning the Cup with our families and the fans was so amazing.” 

And, Bain adds, the goal now is to “bring the Cup home again next year. It can’t be more challenging than this year has been.” 

He says that he plans to be on hand when next year’s team has to recover from injuries and everyday aches and pains. “I definitely hope to be part of another celebration!” — GN

Treble Makers — Delicious Food & Super-Fun Entertainment!

Treble Makers doesn’t just offer fun, the food is some of the best in Wesley Chapel.

It was less than a year ago when Jannah and I visited Gainesville for her work and happened upon a non-chain dueling piano bar/restaurant called The Keys. We had already eaten dinner, but hung around for the entire dueling piano show on a weekend night and we both looked at each other and said, “Why can’t we have something like this in Wesley Chapel?” multiple times.

A few months later, Wesley Chapel resident Jamie Hess had a meeting with The Grove developer Mark Gold and discussed the possibility of bringing a non-chain restaurant/bar with live entertainment to Wesley Chapel and, a week or so after that, Jamie and his wife Sandy, Lee Bevan and Jamie’s brother Joe and his wife Niki became partners in a then-unnamed, unbuilt new restaurant and lounge. 

A few weeks later, the five partners realized they had stumbled onto the right thing at the right time when more than 1,800 different people (most, but not all of whom were residents of Wesley Chapel) suggested names on the Wesley Chapel Community Facebook page for their new place and, not long after that, Treble Makers became an actual thing. And, not even the start of the Covid-19 pandemic could dampen the enthusiasm of either the partners or the local community for the first real sit-down, non-chain American  restaurant to open in Wesley Chapel since Dempsey’s Steak House at Saddlebrook Resort.

And, guess what? Treble Makers is, in my humble opinion, the best restaurant of any kind to open here since Dempsey’s, too. 

While Jannah and I were so psyched to be getting our wish of having piano bar entertainment three miles from where we live fulfilled, we are both even more excited today about Treble Makers’ delicious food. And, best of all for these partners, we’re not the only ones. 

Start Me Up!

Executive Chef Kevin Maggard interviewed for the job at Treble Makers by creating a seven-course meal of his take on many of the items Bevan and the Hesses said they wanted on their menu at Joe and Sandy’s Wesley Chapel home.

Kevin, who was trained at The Art Institute (AI) of Tampa, but has been a sous chef for multiple restaurants and catering companies in the Tampa Bay area, said that although he was fine with many of their choices, he called the menu “a little boring.” 

When he asked if he could get a little adventurous with their concept, he was told to go ahead and run with it.

The result? Kevin and his fellow AI grad and head sous chef Jason Rosenberg came up with a number of unique menu items.

Calamari

For starters, while my long-time readers know how much I love seared tuna, they’ve rarely ever heard me brag about calamari being one of my favorites. But, at Treble Makers, while the sesame-crusted ahi tuna (on a bed of homemade Asian-style slaw) is as good or better than what you pay more for at Bonefish, Kevin’s calamari is extra crispy and in a perfectly balanced sweet-spicy sauce that can only be compared with Ocean Prime’s in Tampa. So good.

Gnocchi

Then, throw in his top-seller, the Imperial crab dip, homemade potato gnocchi in a smoky Alfredo sauce topped with a homemade cheese crisp, Buffalo shrimp and unique wings and, well, you get the idea.

So, What Else Is On The Menu?

Jamie says that although Treble Makers doesn’t yet have a separate lunch menu, the full dinner menu is available for every day for lunch. It includes such midday-friendly items as blue crab bisque, French onion soup, house, Caesar and wedge salads, plus a brisket/chuck blend burger, grilled or blackened chicken sandwich and steak, fish or shrimp “Treble Street Tacos” — none of which are pictured here but only because Treble Makers has only been open a few weeks as I’m writing this and I’ve been so enamored with so many of the dinner entrées. 

But, rest assured, I will eventually be dining in or taking out lunch from Treble Makers a lot in the months to come. There’s even a make-your-own pasta option with your choice of five sauces that I will try.

Prime ribeye

For dinner, you can’t go wrong with  a thick 6- or 8-oz. filet mignon, 12-oz. NY strip or boneless 12- or 16-oz. prime ribeye, all $23-$32, and served with two sides (the fresh broccoli is perfect, and photographer Charmaine George says the garlic mashed potatoes were outstanding; people also raved about the Brussels sprouts). I say they don’t need the $3 per add-on toppings like port demi, gorgonzola or lemon garlic butter because the steaks themselves are all tender, tasty and done to perfection — but they’re available.

Coconut curry black grouper

Mine and Jannah’s surprise favorite so far has been the coconut curry black grouper — a surprise because we both thought we didn’t like anything curry-flavored. So wrong. The huge filet of absolutely fresh grouper shown here sits on a bed of basmati rice and keeps the curry flavor from overpowering the dish with a hint of sweetness, and you will get fish, sauce and rice in every delicious bite. Yum.

Another excellent sweet-&-spicy combo that North Tampa Bay Chamber president Hope Kennedy and her friend Matt let me have a bite of were the diver scallops in sweet corn sauce garnished with jalapeños.

Veal Marsala

Other great dinner entrées include Polynesian chicken breast, pan-seared chicken or veal Marsala (Charmaine said her veal, in the photo above, was “just so tender”; it’s also available with a port demi sauce), chicken or eggplant parm, salmon and a totally unique seared rare yellowfin tuna in thick “slabs” with green goddess sauce and a scallion medley that’s so much better than it even sounds, if you’re a tuna fan like I am.

Save room for dessert, too, as we have sampled the three currently on the menu — Key lime pie, NY-style cheesecake with homemade whipped cream and a super-rich triple chocolate cake. 

In a word? Decadent.

What About The Music?

I’m glad you asked. Every Fri. and Sat. night, the dueling piano shows — which are 9 p.m.-midnight and are a separate cost of $12 per person (adults only) — feature different talented pianists who really know how to get the crowd going. They take requests — and tips help move your request up on the list — and Jamie delivers on his promise that every reservation gets you a socially distant table for four in the main dining area with great views of the action.

Speaking of Covid, Hess says Treble Makers, like every tenant at The Grove, has UV light sterilizers to disinfect the air and also disinfects every table as it is cleared.

I told him I’d like to see the ultra-premium, full-liquor bar area, with honestly very fair drink prices, open to half-capacity “general admission” seating for the shows, but, he says, they have no such plans. However, they do plan to add trivia and karaoke and have already added Bike Night on Wed. nights and live acoustic music on Thur. nights.

Treble Makers is open for lunch and dinner every day, 11 a.m.-10 p.m., and is open until 1 a.m. on Fri. & Sat. nights. For more info, including dinner and show reservations, visit TrebleMakersofWC.com, call (813) 406-4371.  

Nibbles: Restaurant Blitz!

The months of Oct. & Nov. will be among the busiest times yet for new restaurants in the Wesley Chapel area.

Here are some of the highlights:

Florida Avenue Brewing Co. (2029 Arrowgrass Dr.) — With its opening as we went to press, I think our readers will be really excited about Florida Ave., which has a great menu and lots of room for social distancing (even at the spacious indoor and outdoor bars), in the former location of Sports + Field off S.R. 56.

Florida Ave., which has its original location in Seminole Heights, isn’t yet brewing its awesome variety of microbrews at its new location — its original Florida Ave. location will still provide the beer — but it has a full-liquor bar, video games for the kids and delicious, food items, including both standard bar fare and unique options like the Chinese-style sticky ribs shown above (photo by Charmaine George), bibimbap bowls, crispy cauliflower tacos and many more. Please tell the Derby family I sent you! 

Rock & Brews (26000 S.R. 56, Lutz) — Our Rock & Brews will be the 18th link in this chain of rock-themed restaurants owned in part (and inspired) by Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley of the rock band Kiss. In order to preview Rock & Brews in this issue,

I visited the aptly-named “Kiss”-immee location, and I definitely came away impressed with the  look of the place (with images of rock icons from Kiss to Prince and from Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen adorning the walls) to the food, including the blackened redfish shown above (which comes with a Louisiana-style crawfish cream sauce that I couldn’t eat because of my shellfish allergy) to a semi-spicy bruschetta. Rock & Brews (visit RockandBrews.com) should open by mid-October.

Bonefish Grill (Sierra Center Blvd., Lutz) — Although Wesley Chapel has had a Bonefish Grill for years, that location on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. is expected to close when the new Bonefish opens next to Aussie Grill — which could be in October as well. Although we weren’t able to get an opening date from parent company Bloomin’ Brands, there is a “Now Hiring” sign at the new location.

Zukku-San Sushi Bar & Grill & Crumbl Cookies (25916 & 25922 Sierra Center Blvd., Lutz) — Of these two new options, located in the same building as the Woof Gang Bakery and the new Charles Schwab office (east of Bahama Breeze on the north side of S.R. 56), Zukku-San looks closer to opening, although both places have “Now Hiring” signs out in front. The guess here is that neither will open much before the end of October. For more info, visit ZukkuSushi.com or CrumblCookies.com.

Moschella’s Italian Eatery & Market (5648 Post Oak Blvd.) — Owner Billy Moschella says Moschella’s should be open by the end of October and will feature a deli, pizza, fresh pastas, a butcher shop, hot prepared foods and much more. He’s also hiring cooks, pizza makers, deli workers and cashiers. To apply or for more info, visit Moschellas.com.

Chuck Lager America’s Tavern (2001 Piazza Ave., Suite 175) — So, according to the restaurant’s website, Chuck Lager is a worldwide archeological adventurer who decided to venture into opening made-from-scratch restaurants that exemplify his love of great cuisine. Lager met “Top Chef” fan favorite Fabio Viviani in Viviani’s grandmother’s Italian kitchen and a concept was born. 

With locations in Pike Creek, DE, and Barrington, NJ, the Lager team came to “The Chap” to take over the never-good-enough former Primebar location at the Shops at Wiregrass. It doesn’t look like it will make it to an October opening, but hopefully, we’ll see this tomato bacon grilled cheese with tomato bisque (above), homemade meatballs and chicken parm sooner than later.  (Visit ChuckLager.com.)

Pick Of The Week: Gu Wei Noodle & Grill!

Even though I wasn’t able to try it when it opened last month, and I’m therefore not 100% sure that it’s a Chinese restaurant (or maybe Korean?), all I can tell you is that, based on the pics from its website (guweifood.com), the new Gu Wei Noodle & Grill restaurant that is now open in the former location of Sukhothai (a long-time favorite of mine at 18101 Highwoods Preserve Pkwy. at Galbraith Rd., across from the AMC Movie Theater) looks like a truly delicious winner!

From the pan-fried dumplings (above) to its signature noodle dishes and more, Gu Wei definitely looks to be a must-try for all of my fellow Asian food fans. 

 For more information about Gu Wei, which is closed on Monday and Tuesday, call (813) 615-2345 — and please tell them where you read about them!

Wildcats volleyball has eyes on postseason run


Wesley Chapel High volleyball sisters Chloe (left) and Jordan (right) Danielson led WCH to a 14-11 season in 2019 and are eyeing a district title in 2020. (Photo: Mike Camunas) 

The Wesley Chapel High (WCH) volleyball program — barely older than its players — may be coming of age.

Although its past is littered with losing records — prior to last season, the team had won as many as eight games just once (in 2013) — the Wildcats (11-4) are streaking heading into Tuesday’s showdown against Sunlake (11-1), winning six straight games.

WCH team is coming off a 14-11 season.

“The year before that we were 3-17, so, yeah, it was a complete turnaround… and we’re looking to be (Class 4A, District 6) champs this year,” said Brittany Collison, who is in her fourth season as the team’s head coach. “That’s the endgame.”

Turnarounds happen a lot quicker when you add a couple of high-jumping, spike-pounding, six-foot volleyball players like sisters Jordan and Chloe Danielson. The duo, who also play for Collison’s Club Steel team in the offseason, played together up on the net last season.

Chloe leads the team in kills with 121; Jordan is right behind her with 107, and leads the team with 197 assists.

In her first high school season, Chloe, now a sophomore, led the team in kills (216) and blocks (95), while Jordan, a senior, was second in kills with 204 and led the team with 328 assists.

“They play all year for me at Club Steel, so I know what I’m getting with them,” said Collison, a former collegiate libero at Eastern Florida State College. “There’s high-level playing from both of them. They just bring the energy and passion to this team.”

But, it wasn’t always this much fun, especially for Jordan.

“My freshman year was super rough,” she said. “We weren’t good at all and neither was I. I wasn’t even close to how good I am now or how good we are now. … I’ve only been playing club for 3-4 years, but there I’m not the captain. Here, I’m the captain, so I’m like, ‘Let’s get this done.’” 

It is not, however, only a two-person show at WCH, which boasts plenty of experience. Senior middle blocker Amiya Oliver is a force at the net with 77 kills and 38 blocks, sophomore setter Vanessa Campos is emerging as a standout with 131 assists and senior libero Carina Santiago-Sanchez led the team in digs last year with 247.

But, once Chloe was added to the roster, the Wildcats’ success — especially at the net — could not contained.

“We were good and were winning, so that helps,” Chloe said. “Jordan was already here, so that made it easier and things were great from the start. She has a lot of energy up on the net, which gets me really hyped at the net, too. She’s a really huge role model for me because I’ve watched her even before I started playing, so when I see her and what she can do, it makes me want to improve myself and my game, too.”

The two sisters are able to feed off each other, and their versatility is an added bonus. They can both play most any position, and in fact, Jordan led the team in assists and was second in digs, and Chloe was first with serving aces last year.

“Since we’re used to each other’s energy, we just bounce off each other all the time,” Jordan says. “When she does something good, it pushes me to do something good, and I push her back. So, it’s nice to have the same energy as someone playing next to you.”