Hockey after the hurricane: Life off the ice in Florida

Editor’s note: It goes without saying that the Pucks and Recreation staff, like the rest of America, works, eats and sleeps with heavy hearts as we follow Puerto Rico’s recovery effort after Hurricane Maria. We pray for the day our fellow citizens clear the hurdle back to a sense of normalcy. And as the hockey world reboots back on the mainland, one of our own correspondents goes in with an informed perspective.

Between Harvey in Texas, Irma in Florida and the Caribbean and Maria in Puerto Rico, the 2017 hurricane season has witnessed damage that is, in many cases, unfixable. For millions, life will never be the same as it was before the storms.

For a Floridian, hurricanes are a part of life. Every state has a natural disaster it handles better than others. People here throw parties for anything below a Category 2 storm. Conversely, a half-inch of snow would shut everything down until we could safely return to our beach sand.

But the hurricanes this year have been different. After seeing the devastation from Harvey, no one was celebrating Irma as a ‘Florida snow day.’ This time, people actually evacuated. Even those who waited out 2004’s onslaught of Charley, Isaac, Jean and Francis had a plan to leave.

Fortunately, Irma was not nearly as devastating as it could have been for Florida. Although the extensive damage was well-documented, especially in towns that did not receive as much coverage like Arcadia.

But it didn’t make the originally projected run up Tampa Bay. That was fortunate because this area isn’t ready for a major storm.

This is nothing new. When Hurricane Charley barreled through, it was widely discussed that the area wasn’t ready for a storm of that caliber. You heard the same story with Wilma and Katrina in 2005, with simulated pictures of what parts of the area would be underwater due to storm surge.

Since then, things had been mostly silent in Florida on the hurricane front until Irma. While Irma caused extensive infrastructure damage to the Tampa Bay area, it could have been much worse.

If Irma had followed the track through Tampa, we might not be talking about Lightning preseason hockey right now. We might be talking about how Amalie Arena was still weeks out from hosting anything fun, let alone hockey.

Despite the escape, the Lightning and intrastate rival Florida Panthers have kept those less fortunate in mind. After Irma, they teamed up to lead a joint effort that raised $2.7 million in relief money.

The Panthers, who scrimmaged the New York Rangers in San Juan 11 years ago, have since joined their peers from the MLB and NBA for a Puerto Rico fundraiser.

So now, three weeks after Irma rolled through Florida, it’s about time to get started with hockey in earnest. The preseason is wrapping up and the new season is beginning.

In many ways, it almost feels like Irma is a distant memory from years ago already. Locals are ready to get back to hockey, to see the Lightning under the lights again, to salute their fellow fans who worked through Irma and to usher in the new season once again.

Hockey has an important presence in Tampa Bay. Unlike the Rays or the Buccaneers, the Lightning have a direct line into the heart of Tampa Bay due to their location.

Amalie Arena sits right downtown in Tampa, acting as one of the hearts of the city. Even if many of the fans see ice as a magical substance that doesn’t actually exist in nature, they understand hockey. And they know the return of Lightning hockey will mark a return to normalcy for us as a city.

The Lightning may struggle this year, or they may win it all. It doesn’t really matter because in many ways, we are still just happy that hockey can happen in Tampa.

Sometimes it takes a storm to put things into perspective. But what we all hold as normal can quickly be taken away by something like a natural disaster. It may not always be as widespread or covered like these hurricanes are, but it can happen to any fan base in the world.

So as you prepare for the start of the season, really take some time to appreciate your city, arena and fellow fans. Everyone at the arena is there for a shared love of something, whether it be hockey or just the city you reside in.

But you all share something, and that should always be appreciated.