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Lightning fans offered fresh taste of Stanley Cup victory

Tampa Bay Lightning fans will be able to celebrate the NHL ice hockey team’s second consecutive Stanley Cup triumph by drinking beer made from the ice on which games were played at Amalie Arena.

The Lightning completed a 4-1 championship series victory over the Montreal Canadiens on July 7. To mark the occasion, team sponsor Coors Light is making what it claims to be the first-ever beer made with the actual ice the final was played on.

Dubbed ‘Champions Ice’, the beer is this week being made available in participating Tampa Bay bars. Coors used shavings collected by the Lightning Ice Crew during Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final at Amalie Arena.

This was then transported to Coors’ hometown brewery in Golden, Colorado to craft the Champions Ice brew. The championship ice from the arena has been purified using reverse osmosis membrane ultra-filtration technology, before being blended into the Coors Light brew.

“We did an official de-ick-ifying,” Coors Light marketing director Chris Steele told ESPN. “But in all seriousness, what is being shipped to Tampa Bay has gone through all our food and safety requirements.

“We took the ice, passed it though several different, incredibly effective filters. We filtered out the unhealthy stuff. But the magic and the spirit of the Tampa Bay Lightning are still in it.”

Steele added that he hoped the draw of Champions Ice will be another attraction to Lightning fans and help draw customers to bars impacted by the COVID-19 shutdown. He said: “We really wanted to help support the businesses in Tampa Bay as they bounce back, and they’ll also have Coors Light available for those who aren’t quite up to consuming hockey rink ice.”