{"id":487559,"date":"2026-03-05T19:42:36","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T19:42:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/487559\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T19:42:36","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T19:42:36","slug":"lightning-fans-from-abroad-feel-right-at-home-thanks-to-bolts-fan-base","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/487559\/","title":{"rendered":"Lightning fans from abroad feel right at home thanks to Bolts’ fan base"},"content":{"rendered":"

TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 Throughout the hockey season, Tampa Bay 28 is highlighting Lightning super fans. A family living in downtown Tampa says their fandom has made them feel right at home.<\/p>\n

Gena Shuket grew up in Israel, and Paula Gonzlaez grew up in Colombia, so there wasn\u2019t much hockey going on. However, now they are living in Tampa, raising one of the biggest little Lightning fans around.<\/p>\n

Gena, Paula and seven-year-old Mishka say the best part about living in downtown Tampa is walking to every home Lightning game.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything is about Lightning, Lightning, Lightning, Lightning, so it\u2019s very different when the city that you are cheering for is right here because it\u2019s like the whole city is on fire during game nights,\u201d said Gena.<\/p>\n

Moving here from abroad, the Lightning fan base has really made Gena and Paula feel welcome and right at home.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really enjoy going to every game, I love the energy, the excitement, everything, and we\u2019ve made really, really good friends there,\u201d said Paula.<\/p>\n

Mishka has especially become a fan favorite in section 303.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike section 303 all embrace him and everybody loves him and everybody high fives him it\u2019s like everybody knows him there,\u201d said Gena<\/p>\n

Mishka will be the first to point out section 303\u2019s three main rules: always protect the goalie, no standing in the aisle during play and only Bolts jerseys allowed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf someone wears our rival team jersey, you are not allowed; go to the other section far away,\u201d said Mishka.<\/p>\n

You never know when Mishka\u2019s dance moves will make an appearance on the Jumbotron. As for his next goal, actually getting onto the ice.<\/p>\n

\u201cI need to learn how to skate forward, backward, one leg,\u201d said Mishka.<\/p>\n

There is no doubt who Mishka\u2019s favorite player is, Andre Vasilevskiy, while is dad is a big Kucherov fan.<\/p>\n

Mishka said watching Vasilevskiy get into a goalie fight during the Stadium Series game was a memory that will last forever.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very glad he won that fight,\u201d said Mishka.<\/p>\n

Mishka hopes his cheers will be the Bolt\u2019s secret weapon once the playoffs begin.<\/p>\n

When asked if they are going to win the Stanley Cup this year, Mishka responded, \u201cOf course!\u201d<\/p>\n

Share Your Story with Robert

We all take pride in where we live, and Robert Boyd takes pride in highlighting why we feel that way. Whether it\u2019s people doing good or underrepresented communities that deserve a spotlight, Robert wants to know about them. Just use the form below to reach out to Robert.
.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Couples left scrambling after Tampa Bay Area wedding venue abruptly closes<\/p>\n

Brides and grooms who booked a Tampa Bay Area wedding venue are trying to salvage their special days after learning the venue abruptly closed.<\/p>\n

Couples left scrambling after Tampa Bay Area wedding venue abruptly closes<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 Throughout the hockey season, Tampa Bay 28 is highlighting Lightning super fans. A family living…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":487560,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5105],"tags":[7136,12262,29690,58152,15479,5,7280,189,58153,4,13255,16869,540,92,5168,5167],"class_list":["post-487559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa-bay-lightning","tag-abc-action-news","tag-bolts","tag-colombia","tag-gena","tag-hillsborough-county","tag-hockey","tag-israel","tag-lightning","tag-mishka","tag-nhl","tag-paula","tag-robert-boyd","tag-tampa-bay","tag-tampa-bay-lightning","tag-tampabay","tag-tampabaylightning"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116178279328235354","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487559","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=487559"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487559\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/487560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=487559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=487559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=487559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}