The Tampa Bay Lightning, a hockey team based in Tampa, Fla., is known for their success in being back-to-back Stanley Cup champions. They could not have made it where they are today without Ross Colton, player number 79 and a forward for the team.

   Colton was born Sept. 11, 1996, in Robbinsville, N.J. Colton’s playing career started in high school, where he was the captain of his team. Colton attended the University of Vermont to further his education and continued to play hockey. 

   Colton was drafted for the National Hockey League (NHL) in 2016 and continued to play with the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders and the University of Vermont until 2018, when Colton joined the American Hockey League (AHL) and played for the Syracuse Crunch.

   The Syracuse Crunch is the AHL team of the Tampa Bay Lightning, located in Syracuse, N.Y. After playing three seasons for the AHL, Colton was re-called to the NHL and played his debut game on Feb. 24, 2021. Colton’s first game resulted in a goal, making him the second player in franchise history to ever score a goal in their debut game for the NHL.

   Centerman Colton scored the first goal of Game 5 during the Stanley Cup Championship on July 7, 2021, which secured the win for the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2021 Stanley Cup Finals. The game-winning goal gave the Lightning their third Stanley Cup win in NHL history.

   Following, Colton and the Tampa Bay Lightning agreed to a two year, $2.25-million contract on Aug. 9, 2021, extending his stay with the Lightning for at least two more seasons. 

   Colton’s first goal of the 2021 to 2022 season was on Oct. 14, 2021, against the Detroit Red Wings. Following his first goal, Colton scored his second against the Seattle Krakens on Nov. 26. Colton scored three more goals on Dec. 28, Dec. 31 and Jan. 15, against the Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers and Dallas Stars respectively. The next three goals were made in back-to-back games against the Anaheim Ducks and the San Jose Sharks, scoring one goal on Jan. 21 and two goals on Jan. 22, 2022.

   Colton’s career does not end there, as his social media following showers some attention onto him. Social media platform Instagram has its fair share of Ross Colton fan-pages, such as accounts like @rosscoltons and @rosscolton_fanpage, who both post about Colton’s attractiveness as well as his successes during the hockey season. More accounts regularly post about him and the rest of the Kid Line, which is the line that consists of Ross Colton, Boris Katchouk and Taylor Raddysh.

   Colton’s career in the NHL is just starting, and he is going to have many more opportunities in the future. After Colton’s current contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning, it is unknown whether he will be renewing his contract or if he will be traded to a different NHL team.