{"id":455601,"date":"2026-02-12T13:53:18","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T13:53:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/455601\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T13:53:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T13:53:18","slug":"lightning-fan-credits-team-for-helping-him-overcome-lifes-obstacles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/455601\/","title":{"rendered":"Lightning fan credits team for helping him overcome life’s obstacles"},"content":{"rendered":"

PALM HARBOR \u2014 Ryan Vogel had never even been to a hockey game until he moved to the Tampa Bay area in 2015, and now he never even misses a Lightning home game; in fact, he even goes to some of the away games.<\/p>\n

Growing up in New York, Ryan Vogel was surrounded by sports his whole life, but he didn\u2019t realize the connection a team can have on a community until he became a Lightning fan.<\/p>\n

\u201cGrowing up as a New York Knicks fan and as a New York Mets fan, they never came around our community; they were never as present as the Lightning,\u201d said Vogel. \u201cThey love their fans more than any organization I have ever been witnessed to in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ryan says the memorabilia and memories he\u2019s collected over the years are like little milestones. Ryan has been living with Leukemia for the past 10 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI truly believe that the best way to battle most chronic illnesses like cancer is to have a positive outlook and to put your energy in a positive place,\u201d said Vogel.<\/p>\n

Ryan decided to put his energy into the Tampa Bay Lightning, and so far, it\u2019s been a winning prescription.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust something to depend on, something that gives you hope, and I don\u2019t know how else to say it, but never underestimate hope and the Lightning are a true testament to that,\u201d said Vogel.<\/p>\n

He attends every home game with his friends in section 303. Every season, he also chooses a few away games to follow the team. He says over the years, the players have made him feel like one of the guys.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve gone to Nashville and I\u2019ve seen them out in public, \u2018Patty Maroon, thank you so much for buying me that beer in Nashville,\u201d said Vogel.<\/p>\n

Ryan has even created one-of-a-kind jerseys with nicknames he\u2019s personally given to his favorite players, like \u201cBagel \u201c for Brandon Hagel and \u201cSnake\u201d for Jake Guentzel.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like to call him Jake the Snake. Also, I notice he plays in the crease of the net, it doesn\u2019t always look good but sometimes snakes don\u2019t look good,\u201d said Vogel.<\/p>\n

This season, Ryan opened a Lighting fan cave in his home, which is another story of perseverance. Some of the items you find hanging on the walls were rescued from his restaurant, which was severely damaged and has yet to reopen following Hurricane Helene.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just like any hard time in your life, you fall back on the most positive influences you can, what was positive for me, staying focused and working hard, being there for my family, and the Tampa Bay Lightning,\u201d said Vogel.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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A Florida sheriff’s bold claims about immigrant arrests reveal a more complex picture when court records are examined in detail.<\/p>\n

FL\u2019s Sheriff\u2019s claims about immigrant arrests miss key details<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PALM HARBOR \u2014 Ryan Vogel had never even been to a hockey game until he moved to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":455602,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5105],"tags":[7136,5,43981,189,4,55354,16106,16869,55355,55356,540,92,15480,5168,5167,7139],"class_list":{"0":"post-455601","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tampa-bay-lightning","8":"tag-abc-action-news","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-leukemia","11":"tag-lightning","12":"tag-nhl","13":"tag-palm-habor","14":"tag-pinellas-county","15":"tag-robert-boyd","16":"tag-ryan-vogel","17":"tag-section-303","18":"tag-tampa-bay","19":"tag-tampa-bay-lightning","20":"tag-tampa-bay-local-news","21":"tag-tampabay","22":"tag-tampabaylightning","23":"tag-wfts"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116057998213618393","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=455601"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455601\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/455602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=455601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=455601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=455601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}