On Tuesday, the NHL season opened with the Tampa Bay Lighting claiming a 4-1 win over the Vancouver Canucks, giving hockey fans in the twice-battered city something to cheer about.
Additionally, as sporting events often do, the occasion helped to channel the best of human potential, as the match was marked by a food drive, a raffle/fundraiser, and a horde of Canucks fans who came down from Canada several weeks in advance to help work on the power lines.
44 of the fans flew in to cheer on their team, Tampa’s opponents, but they arrived more than two weeks in advance of the match to help work on the power lines following Hurricane Milton’s landfall.
At the end of the second period, the 44 men in the traveling fans section appeared up on the big screen over center ice, resulting in the biggest ovation of the game.
“How about the ovation that the Vancouver [power] linemen …