Lightning Coach Brings Stanley Cup To Anna Maria Island Bars

BRADENTON BEACH, FL — Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Jon Cooper surprised patrons at Anna Maria Island dive bars and restaurants when he stopped by for a celebratory drink with the Stanley Cup Saturday night.

The Lightning won its second consecutive Stanley Cup trophy by defeating the Montreal Canadiens 1-0 at the Amelie Arena Wednesday night.

After that big win, Cooper, who has a home on Anna Maria Island (AMI), was ready for a drink and stopped by several bars and restaurants with the trophy in tow, including the Drift Inn at 120 Bridge Street and the Beach Bistro at 6600 Gulf Drive in Holmes Beach.

Christine Claxton, who hangs out at the Drift Inn often, happened to be there with a friend Saturday night when Cooper rolled into the parking lot on a white bus with the trophy about an hour before midnight.

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“We were thinking, ‘This must be a bus full of tourists,’” she told Patch. “Then, the bartender, Sharon, said, ‘No, that is the cup.’ I was like, ‘What cup?’ She said, ‘The Stanley!’ We didn’t believe it until Coach Coop walked off the bus with it. It was such a surprise.”

When her friend, Andrew Gugliemini, saw Claxton post pictures of the Stanley Cup at the Drift Inn, he rushed to get to the bar Saturday before they left.

“It was amazing! I was at the watch party outside of Amelie (Arena) for Game 5, so to then run into the cup on AMI was the icing on the cake,” he told Patch. “Last year, I know (Cooper) brought the cup to Duffy’s, but I missed it. So, this year, when the cup was making its tour on AMI, as soon as I saw or heard that it was happening, my beautiful wife and I jumped in my big, red pickup truck and raced out to the Drift (Inn) where I got to kiss the cup.”

Tim Hall said he also heard from a friend that Cooper was on Anna Maria Island with the Stanley Cup Saturday night.

“Sure enough, they showed up with four players and both coaches,” he told Patch. “I’m from West Virginia and started watching hockey a few years back and now I can’t wait for hockey season! We had a great time enjoying the opportunity to see such a prestigious trophy in our little bar!”

Facebook user Joe Sherrod posted that he was hanging out at the Drift Inn when Cooper walked in and placed the Stanley Cup on the bar. After having “We Are the Champions” played by the DJ, Cooper let people drink beer from the trophy, he added.

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Sherrod tried to take a drink from the Stanley Cup, but Cooper had finished passing it around by then.

“He said, ‘We’re finished letting people drink from the cup but have some of this,’” Sherrod wrote on Facebook. “He held his beer up in the air, I titled my head back and he started pouring the beer. Everyone in the place was cheering him on. It was crazy!”

Claxton said the “crowd was so energetic” at the bar Saturday and exuded “happiness and excitement.”

“It felt good to be around that energy,” she said. “What a great thing for this state, and, of course, for AMI. It was a moment I will not forget!”