Thunder Kids hype Lightning crowds at Amalie Arena

TAMPA (FOX 13) - It’s the biggest job a kid in Tampa can have.

Before every Tampa Bay Lightning game, a young hockey player gets to skate out to AC/DC’s "Thunderstruck" and rev up the crowd at Amalie Arena.

Before Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Final, the kid chosen for the lucky job was 6-year-old Evan Hall.

It was the skate of Evan Hall’s life.

“It sounds like thunder,” he said after getting off the ice. “I like the skating.”

Evan’s been skating for half his life - since he was three.

Even so, Lightning officials let him practice several times before the real thing: Once with the arena lights on and no music to distract him, and then a second time with the lights out and “Thunderstruck” blaring.

While it’s not always the son of a former player who gets the lucky role, Evan is the son of former Lightning player Adam Hall.

“I’m thinking how proud I am of him, every single day, whether it’s out here doing this, or we are at home with his sister and our family, and no matter what we are doing, we are having fun,” said Evan's dad, Adam Hall.

As an NHL veteran of seven teams over 10 years, Hall says the Thunder Kid is one of the things that makes the Lightning unique, and it makes a difference for the fans and the players alike.

“It just speaks to the whole city and the whole organization, the way they involve everybody, make everybody feel like they’re a part of the team on the ice,” said Hall, “like they have a say and have a stake in what’s going on out there.”