TORONTO — Victor Hedman was disappointed.
Not so much for himself or his Tampa Bay Lightning teammates, who had just lost 5-2 to the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena on Monday.
No, his frustration was more for the residents back in Tampa, who with each passing day are attempting to piece their lives back together after Hurricanes Helene and Milton ravaged the region.
“We want to win for them,” the Lightning captain said. “We want to give them a distraction.
“At the end of the day, we want to do whatever we can to put smiles on the faces of the people back home. We didn’t do that tonight. We weren’t good enough. It’s as simple as that. At least we get a chance to do it in New Jersey (on Tuesday).”
Such is the state of the Lightning these days. For several hours each day, the rink is a much-needed refuge from the sobering reality that Mother Nature’s wrath inflicted on their hockey home in Florida, whether it be for practices or games.
No one knows that better than Hedman.
Hurricane Helene hit the Tampa area on Sept. 26, flooding entire areas of the region. Less than two weeks later, Hurricane Milton slammed into the area on Oct. 9 with 180-mph winds that peeled sections of the roof off Tropicana Field, home of Major League Baseball’s Tampa Bay Rays.
Hedman lives in the Davis Island area of Tampa, like many of his teammates. The defenseman said his home was spared significant damage other than the fact that his back yard was under “several feet of water.”
Others on his street were not as fortunate. When he looked out his front window, he could see couches and other pieces of furniture that once resided in houses in his neighborhood now strewn on lawns and on the street, some piled in heaps of shredded wood, plastic and metal.
Forward Jake Guentzel, who signed a seven-year contract with the Lightning on July 1, was in the process of moving into a new residence when the double whammy of storms hit. He’s been living in an area hotel while movers were in the process of bringing his possessions there.
Now things are in a state of flux.
“There was four feet of water in the garage,” he said. “Incredible.”
Guentzel finished last season playing for a team named the Hurricanes. Now, in Florida, his life was upended by a pair of the very storms the Carolina team is named after.
“Ironic, isn’t it?” he said.
Coach Jon Cooper and his family only moved back into their home a few days ago. The storms completely decimated their kitchen. It could have been worse, he said, had his wife Jessie not to remain in their residence.
“She did things that helped curtail the damage,” he said. “Otherwise, there would have been much more damage.
“All in all, we are luckier than a lot of people there. There are so many people we want to help.”
On Sept. 30 the Lightning announced Hedman and his wife, Sanna, pledged $150,000 to local relief efforts following Hurricane Helene. The dollars were to be split between the Tampa Police Benevolent Association and the Coast Guard Foundation to benefit those negatively impacted by the storm in the Tampa Bay area. In addition, the Lightning players donated $10,000 to Rebuilding Together Tampa Bay.
For Hedman, it was, in his words, a “no-brainer.”
“You know, it’s like an apocalypse driving through my neighborhood,” he said. “A lot of people lost everything they had. It’s heartbreaking.
“Tampa has been my home for 15 years. Hockey has given me so much. Tampa, as a city, has given me so much. So I try to give back as much as I can.
“To see the devastation, we wanted to do something and hopefully help people. If it only helps a few people, well, that’s all I can ask for. That was the thought process. It was just trying to follow the lead of our owner.”
The Lightning owner is Jeffrey Vinik. As part of the Vinik Sports Group, the Lightning Foundation gave a $2 million Hurricane Helene relief grant to benefit Coast Guard officers, police officers, firefighters, sheriff's officers and teachers in the Tampa Bay region.
“It’s the least we all can do,” Hedman said.
Given the circumstances, the Lightning should be commended for their 3-2-0 start to the season. Yes, Monday did not go as planned. But the sun will come up Tuesday, and they’ll get another chance to right their wrongs and get back on the winning track against the New Jersey Devils (Tuesday, 6:45 p.m. ET; FDSNSUN, MSGSN).
“We can only control what we can control,” Hedman said. “And that’s winning hockey games and giving even a little bit of joy to the disrupted lives of the people back home.”
