News 12 @ 6 Thursday July 24, 2008

Just two months away from the start of hockey season with the Augusta Lynx and a big piece of the puzzle falls into place with the team finding an N.H.L. affiliation. Who knew, lightning does strike in Augusta.

This afternoon the team unveiled the Lynx will now be affiliated with the Tampa Bay Lightning of the N.H.L. and the Norfolk Admirals of the American Hockey League. You may remember the Lynx lost their ties with Anaheim who wanted to have a club closer to home. Augusta had been talking with a few other teams about a possible relationship but it was Tampa who approached the Lynx. Not having a coach in place might have helped in this case.

"If they were going down the road on a coach that we weren't really excited about it may or may not have swayed our decision but the fact these guys are headed in the right direction...we can sleep at night" said Norfolk General Manager Mike Butters.

"Have you been talking to Tampa?" said Lynx General Manager Dan Troutman "He said no sir. I knew the teams we've been talking to I thought. So Mike said call me back if you're interested so I called him right back and said yea we're interested! "

Lynx are hoping to have a head coach in place within a week. The season starts in mid October.