The Great North American Hockey Tour

Wherever the Lensmires go, the Tampa Bay Lightning flag follows.

It’s peeked into the depths of the Grand Canyon. Carved the icy fjords of Norway. Taken a dog sled ride through Whistler. But no matter how far the flag flies, it always ends up at a Bolts game.

For the past seven years, Katie Lensmire and her father Warren have tethered their world travels to Lightning road games. 31 teams. 33 total arenas. They've accumulated an immaculate points percentage of .742 on the road. A 21-6-4 record so impressive that if this week’s impending NHL Draft was for daringly devoted fans, the Lensmires would be first-round picks. (The Lightning have first-round picks in my daringly devoted fan draft.)

“We've been hockey fans since Central Wisconsin which is where we lived prior to moving to Florida,” Warren tells me over an offseason Zoom call. “When we came down and could start seeing professional hockey with the Lightning, it was a no-brainer.”

The Lightning bug got them on Katie’s 18^th birthday—her first Bolts game. And soon after a jaunt to a road contest against the Wild, the vision for their journey began to take shape.

In our second installment of Great Moments in Bolts Fan History, the Lensmires tell me all about their far-reaching escapades, what it was like to witness Steven Stamkos’s 500^th goal, and the arenas and fanbases that will stick with them for years to come.

Thompson Brandes: How did the light bulb come on for this idea with you two?

Katie Lensmire: So our first game, we went up to the Minnesota Wild. My sister lived in Minneapolis so that was kind of an easy way to get a game done. We visited her and went to our first away game and got hooked. And then our second game that year, we went to Boston and after that we were kind of like, we really want to do all 31.

Warren Lensmire: It was her idea. She said, "Dad, let's do it. Let's make this a bucket list thing." And I said, "As long as her mother approved, I was on board with it."

Did you have a few cities under your belt or did you start fresh?

Katie: That first year we went to two games. And then the following year we went to two games and were like, we got to pick up our pace a little bit. So it got to more like five games a year, and then I think seven or eight was the most that we did in one season.

Warren: Covid kind of threw a wrench in things, so it backed us up on what our game plan was, and I said, "I don't want to be in a walker doing this. We got to pick up the pace."

Did you have a map and a strategy or did it just sort of unfold over time?

Katie: Yeah, I'd get so excited when the schedule would come out and I would kind of plan what cities would work within our schedules. And so always at the beginning of the year I had a game plan of where we wanted to go.

Warren: She also runs her own business, so we have to work around her schedule for her clients. I'm an unpaid intern for her firm, so I'm flexible.

Do you have a favorite city from your travels?

Katie: I loved all of Canada’s cities pretty equally.

Warren: Yeah, I think Vancouver was one of my highlights, the Canadian swing. But DC for me was, well A) we won, and B) I'm a real history buff, so it meant a lot to me.

What about Vancouver did you love? I've always wanted to go.

Katie: When we were in Vancouver, we actually went to Whistler as well and went dog sledding. But Vancouver was also where Stammer scored his 500th goal. He got a hat trick that night…all the Vancouver fans were standing up and cheering for him too, so it was just a really special game.

Warren: We think we're pretty good luck charms for the team because our record is 21 wins, 6 losses and 4 overtimes.

That's actually pretty incredible.

Warren: We walked away with a lot of angry, seething fans…and Katie can be a little aggressive at times with the flag.

I've been to a few road games myself, and I'm not going to lie, it's always kind of awkward walking in. Were there any arenas that were especially dicey or difficult?

Warren: Well, everybody said Philadelphia was one to worry about…

Katie: But they were really nice! But we also lost that game 6-3, so I mean, they weren't going to be terrible to us.

Warren: Boston.

Katie: Boston. Buffalo. A woman kind of got nasty at me at Buffalo. She was like, "You need to go back to Florida." And I said, "Gladly. The weather's better." But mostly the Canadian fans—that's another reason why I love them—because they're so nice. When they find out that we're actually from Florida and we were traveling to see the team, they had so much respect and kindness toward us.

I was going to ask, on the flip side, is there a fan base that won you over?

Katie: I think Vancouver because for the whole arena to stand for Stamkos, that doesn't happen every day.

Warren: And then typically, whoever we're sitting next to will ask us our backstory and we'll tell them about the father-daughter thing…and it just blows them away. So we've met a lot of really nice people along the way.

Yeah, it's hard to chirp at the father-daughter duo traveling the world together.

Warren: Yeah, right? Oh…and we did do Sweden for the Global Series.

Oh, very cool. How was that?

Warren: We flew the flag from the bow of an ice cutter through the fjords [in Norway]. So we've had it all over the place. Always with a game tied to it though.

Do you favor the old classic, historic hockey arenas or the new innovative and flashy venues?

Katie: Probably new and flashy.

Warren: I'll say new. Yeah.

Katie: Seattle's arena was amazing.

Warren: Yeah, Climate Pledge was unbelievable. Just the atmosphere and the feel of the place was unreal.

Travel is inherently tough at times. Were there moments like that when you thought maybe this is going to be more exhausting than we anticipated?

Katie: Well, it was always worth it. Let me start with that. But when we were flying to Nashville to go to the Stadium Series, we flew the day before to be safe…and our flight kept getting delayed, delayed, delayed. At 9:00 PM they just flat out canceled it. So at 9:00 PM we hopped in my car and we drove straight through the night to Nashville. I think it was eight or 10 hours, so we got to Nashville at 5 or 6 AM, took a quick power nap and then headed to the stadium…so we were a little exhausted that day, but I mean, it was never a question of are we going to go or not? We were going to make it happen.

Who drove?

Warren: I made a bed in her car.

Katie: He was sleeping in the back.

That's a good call right there.

Warren: It was. She had more adrenaline going than I did.

If you had to pick one moment or memory that you think you'll look back on the fondest, what do you think it would be?

Warren: Wow, that's a tough call. I do think the Stamkos 500th goal experience was pretty much second to none.

Katie: Honestly, the last game in Anaheim was special too.

Warren: Especially with Killer being there, we’re big Alex Killorn fans.

Katie: There were a lot of Lightning fans that did the whole California swing, so we pulled out the banner and everyone's reading it and they're getting so excited for us.

Warren: It was great.

In what ways do you think this journey impacted your family and your relationship as father-daughter?

Katie: It's just been once in a lifetime and it's not necessarily a thing that everyone gets to do. So we're just so grateful that we could do it together.

Warren: A lot of times, if they landed on her birthday which is New Year's Eve, then her mom would come along. So there were moments like that when we could tie the whole experience of reliving our little girls' joys with her…We made the best of every experience. And to be able to hold the flag in the Grand Canyon and places like that…Now we’re just excited that we’re going to Utah.

Katie: Utah!

Oh, that's right! You got a whole extra place to check off.

Katie: When we heard that, I was so excited. I was like, the flags coming out of retirement.

Warren: Yeah. Oh my God. I thought I hung it up in the room permanently, and we didn't have to do this anymore [laughs] but we're off to Utah next year.

Katie: It's just been, like I said, a trip of a lifetime.

Warren: Trips of a lifetime.

Katie: Yeah, trips of a lifetime.