Family turns garage into mini rink for 3-year-old Bolts fan

PASCO COUNTY, Fla. — It’s no secret that the Tampa Bay Lightning fan base is one of the most dedicated groups in professional sports. Last December, Tampa Bay celebrated its 300th consecutive home sellout.

But one of the team’s biggest fans wasn’t even alive when that streak began — because he is only 3 years old.

The family from Hudson turned their garage into a mini hockey rink with synthetic ice for their 3-year-old son, Jameson, this past Christmas.

He has been a Bolts fan since attending his first game last season when he got a puck from left-winger Pat Maroon.

Ever since that moment, he’s been hooked. Now, Jameson has become a proficient skater both on rollerblades and on ice skates.

“The first time we took him on the ice, he had the little seal he was pushing around then, after about 10 minutes he pushed the little seal away and never wanted it and never used it again,” said Jameson’s father Justin Russell.

Jameson skates with older players ages 6 and up at a drop-in hockey playing stick-and-shoot. Someone as young as Jameson rarely gets that opportunity.

“He looked at them and says these are all of his hockey friends, so he loved it, having the bigger kids playing around with him, they have been great,” said Russell.

This is just a normal day for Jameson. He wakes up, puts his rollerblades on and skates through the house. When he’s not skating, he’s watching hockey and practicing what he watches on the ice.

“That’s all he watches. When the game isn’t on, he’s watching replays of the game highlights. He’s watching old games from 2020. He is always watching the game,” said Jameson’s mother Mariah Oleksy.

Right now is Jameson’s Learn to Play program, and his family says he’s skilled enough to attend the rookie camp hopefully in June.