Sandra Porzio is the wife of Steven Stamkos. They met at Brother Andre Catholic High School, where they started their relationship in 2008. After an eight-year courtship, Steven Stamkos proposed to Sandra Porzio on September 30, 2016, in a small engagement ceremony attended by close family and friends. They had a grand wedding at the Arlington Estate in Kleinburg, Ontario, on June 30, 2017. Instead of conventional gifts, the couple requested guests to contribute to the Ronald McDonald House Charities.
Born in 1990, Sandra is 33 years old and has a brother named Michael Porzio, who shares a close bond with her husband, Steven Stamkos. Sandra holds a degree in psychology from York University. Maintaining a limited presence in the media and public eye, Sandra occasionally attends charity events and hockey games with her husband. Her primary focus revolves around being a supportive wife and caring mother to her son.
To commemorate Steven Stamkos’ 1,000th career NHL game, his buddies surprised him with an epic golf trip last summer.
Alex Killorn, Pat Maroon, Victor Hedman, Ryan McDonagh and Corey Perry were among the Tampa Bay Lightning teammates past and present who chipped in to get Stamkos a charter plane and a few rounds at Pine Valley, an exclusive and top-rated course outside Philadelphia.
“We wanted to show him how much he meant to us,” Killorn said.
The fact that Stamkos reached the milestone as a member of the Lightning was fitting. The 2008 No. 1 pick is the face of the franchise, a two-time Stanley Cup champion and even the voice once used to greet visitors at the Tampa airport.
His place in franchise history is clear. The future, though, is less so.
Stamkos has said he wants to be a lifelong Bolt, but his frustrations over a lack of contract talks last summer and potential unrestricted free agency this summer have become one of the biggest stories bubbling under the surface in the NHL.
Will these upcoming playoffs be the swan song for Stamkos in Tampa Bay?
“I think if he could choose, he would stay,” Killorn said.
But he then added: “Everyone has a certain amount of pride. He’s going to be a Hall of Famer. At a certain point, if they don’t want you, he won’t want to stay.”
Lightning general manager Julien BriseBois has said since the start of the season that he hopes to re-sign his captain — that Stamkos finishing his career with Tampa Bay would be “in everyone’s best interest.” But the longer this goes, the more it seems possible that Stamkos could become the latest and by far biggest cap casualty in the team’s unrelenting quest to keep its Cup window open.
Hard and sometimes harsh decisions have become as common in Tampa as championship boat parades.
Only three days after the season in 2022, Brisebois told McDonagh that the Lightning had no choice but to trade him even though his contract included a no-movement clause. The defenseman was dealt to Nashville a week after skating in a third straight Stanley Cup Final with the Lightning.
Ondrej Palat walked out the door that same summer. One of the organization’s ultimate success stories as a seventh-round pick who became a key contributor on championship teams at both the AHL and NHL levels, he said he would have taken less than the $30 million, five-year deal he ended up signing with the New Jersey Devils to remain with the Lightning. But talks between BriseBois and his agent were brief, according to Palat, and amounted to one lowball offer and no further negotiations.
“I kind of wish it was a (back and forth negotiation), but that made the decision easy,” Palat said.
Killorn, Yanni Gourde and Tyler Johnson were also cap-related departures, helping free space to sign long-term extensions with the core being built behind them — a group that includes Brayden Point, Anthony Cirelli, Brandon Hagel, Nick Paul, Mikhail Sergachev and Erik Cernak.
But Stamkos?
He’s different.
He’s the thread that runs through nearly half of the organization’s existence. The captain who followed Martin St. Louis and Vincent Lecavalier and led the team to the Stanley Cup Final on four occasions. The player who scored one of the most dramatic goals of his generation. The chief of the Lightning’s welcoming committee, opening his door or lending a spare car to any teammate in need. The man who took a quick peek at free agency in 2016 before signing for less in Tampa, helping pave the way for the dominant stretch that followed.
“Absolute great leader,” Gourde said.
“Incredible guy,” Palat said. “Incredible leader and person. I’m glad we’re friends.”
“He’s been one of the biggest reasons for the franchise being in the state it’s in for the last probably 12 years,” Luke Schenn said. “He’s been the leader there. He’s been the voice in the community, in the dressing room, amongst the coaching staff and everything.”
“He’s a legend,” added Victor Hedman. “He’ll forever be a legend in this organization.”
Stamkos is what any organization hopes it’s getting when picking first in the NHL Draft: talented, committed, thoughtful and community-minded.
And productive. He’s scored fewer goals than only Alex Ovechkin and fewer points than only Sidney Crosby, Ovechkin and Patrick Kane since being called to the draft stage by former Lightning owner Oren Koules.
It has been nearly 6,000 days since the Lightning played a game without Stamkos as a member of the organization.
He’s now less than 90 days from hitting the open market.
A couple of weeks before the biggest goal of his NHL career, Stamkos delivered one of his most poignant messages.
On a whiteboard.
It was during the Lightning’s 2020 Cup run, played in the Edmonton bubble due to COVID-19. Stamkos had been dealt several frustrating setbacks in his rehab from a core injury and didn’t know if he’d play in the postseason. Tampa Bay had just lost Game 5 of the Eastern Conference final to the New York Islanders, cutting its series lead to 3-2.
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