'21st Man' Griffin Mangan Battles Cancer with Support from Jr. Preds

By the time he was 4 years old, Griffin Mangan loved to play hockey.
"Once he got on the ice, it was love at first sight," Griffin's father, Sean Mangan, said. "That was his deal and that was his gig."
A former pro hockey player himself, Sean watched his young son take to the sport almost instinctively.
By age 7, Griffin was skating for Total Package Hockey's southeastern select travel team. By 12, the young forward was impressing the Nashville Jr. Predators enough to earn a coveted spot on the AAA team's roster.
"He's one of those kids you just really liked to coach," Griffin's former Jr. Preds coach Tim McCallister said. "We'd use him in all scenarios - five-on-five, penalty kill, power play - because he was very versatile in what he could do for us and he was consistent. He just gave it each and every time he came in and he was just a likable kid. The other boys kind of surrounded him and he was just the guy you wanted to hang out with."
At 13, Griffin began complaining about a sharp pain in his foot that seemed to come and go at random.

"We thought it was a skate problem, so I got him new skates," Sean Mangan said. "After he broke in the new skates, he was like, 'Oh, my foot feels a lot better,' and I thought maybe that was it. Then a couple weeks later, his foot started hurting him again… One of the dads with the team was a physical therapist, and he looked at it and said, 'Man, that looks a little weird. We should probably get it X-rayed."
The need for an X-ray would soon become immediate when Griffin - skating in a tournament at Ford Ice Center - broke his arm during a game.
The dad took Griffin in for X-rays and confirmed the break. Though when he X-rayed Griffin's foot, he saw something concerning.
"He said, 'When you guys get back to Knoxville, go see an orthopedist, because his foot looks really bad,'" Mangan said. "So, we went to the orthopedist and he knew right away. He didn't diagnose] anything, but said, 'I'm going to send you to Vandy for a biopsy and have that looked at.' We went to Vandy and the doctors there did the biopsy, but they both kind of knew from the X-ray that it was probably Ewing's sarcoma."
On April 5, 2022, Griffin received his official diagnosis for the rare form of bone cancer.
"It was pretty traumatic to find out that was the diagnosis, because you look that up on Google and it's pretty scary," Sean Mangan said. "Griffin was scared a little bit too… He's a pretty independent kid, obviously, having played for a travel hockey team since he was 7 years old. So, he got on his phone and Googled it and read about it, just like I did. So, we talked about it and said, 'Hey, here's the deal.' Then we went back to the orthopedist in Knoxville to check on his arm after it was healed and they kind of laid the groundwork. They said, 'This is a major thing and you're in for the battle of your life.'"
If the Jr. Preds had anything to say about it, it wouldn't be a battle Griffin or his father would ever have to fight alone.
"As soon as the word was out, it was boots to ground," McAllister said. "We knew this was going to be a long road for Griffin, just from a survival standpoint. We weren't even talking about getting him back on the ice… We just wanted him to be around. So, parents and volunteers just stepped up and wanted to provide in any way they could to help his family with everything, whether it was sending meals their way or gift packages and that type of thing.
Obviously, hockey goes behind the scenes and this goes to the forefront because there's a lot more important things than hockey, and we found that out in a hurry."
Those early efforts eventually turned into
[the 21st Man campaign
, a fundraising project helping raise money for Griffin's treatment, as well as awareness for the rare disease. The campaign's name, which honors Griffin's jersey number, also recognizes Griffin's presence in the hearts of every 20-man USA Hockey team.
To date, the effort has raised more than $30,000 for Griffin's treatment, which began almost immediately after receiving his diagnosis.
While fortunate in its quick and relatively early administration, the intense, months-long chemotherapy treatment plan effectively pressed pause on Griffin's favorite thing in the world.
"Once that happens, everything just stops," Sean Mangan said. "No school, no nothing. They run a port through your chest up into your carotid artery, and he can't do anything once that starts and so he hasn't been in school or played hockey since."
With so much time away from the rink and friends, Griffin's attention turned toward the story of Oskar Lindblom, the former Philadelphia Flyers forward whose season was also shelved after a Ewing's sarcoma diagnosis.
Still, after a long battle, Lindblom returned to the ice.
"The motivation of Lindblom and some other kids that had it… Playing again has always been his goal, and even when he was doing treatment, he'd go outside and shoot pucks and stickhandle," Mangan said. "No matter how bad he felt - he was outside doing his hockey thing."
Through it all, Griffin's teammates were still there, checking up and sending words of encouragement through texts or quick phone calls.
"I can't even fathom someone that young having to battle what he's battled through," McAllister said. "But I think to get those messages from his teammates - those little notes and those little smiles and those little laughs here and there - I think went a very long way to help Griffin just continue to battle through things."
Griffin's teammates weren't the only ones to reach out.
As it turned out, Griffin's story found its way inside the Nashville Predators locker room and to team captain Roman Josi, who ended up recording a special message for the young forward.
"That went an extremely long way," McAllister said. "Griffin was pumped to get it and his dad was super excited. His dad told me he was just ecstatic that Roman Josi sent him a video message, just to say, 'We're thinking about you Griffin and care for you and we love you.' So little things like that - just typical Preds things that they do - are tremendous and did go a long way."
Griffin - now just two months away from completing his chemotherapy treatment and with the full support of his new NHL friends - went to Vanderbilt Medical Center earlier this month to have the tumors in his foot surgically removed.
Despite having his big toe and part of his foot removed during the surgery, Griffin has already laced up his skates and returned to the ice.
"His recovery has been unbelievable," Sean Mangan said. "When he skated on the ice, he looked just like the other kids. He skated twice since the surgery, and of course, he's still doing treatment… But his attitude, his energy and his physical recovery], I mean, if you looked at him, you wouldn't be able to tell, which is completely a blessing."
While he's still a ways away from rejoining his teammates for game action, Griffin's friends and family know nothing will stop him from getting there.
"It's just a testament to who he is as a hockey player and as a kid," McAllister said. "He's battling this thing just as I expected he would. The same way he worked as a player, he's going after this and he's doing all he can fighting it, and he's doing a tremendous job. So, we're just super proud of him. And we just want him to continue to recover and get back to where we can get him on the ice and get him smiling again."
Griffin will take to the ice once more this Saturday as the Preds host Hockey Fights Cancer Night. Only this time, he'll be joining some of his hockey heroes as the BlueCross BlueShield Blueliner of the Game.
[Click here to learn more about the 21st Man campaign
and
click here to learn more about the Preds' involvement in the Hockey Fights Cancer initiative
.