FHL goalie is all class. (PICS)

Eric Vogel is a true class act, and a shining example of how amazing athletes truly can be. It all began with Greg an Brenda St. Clair. Both are rabid hockey fans, and were introduced to hockey when they were spectators at an FHL matchup between the Danbury Trashers and Kalamazoo Wings. Since birth Brenda has suffered from spina bifida, an abnormality that causes an opening in the spinal column. So while Greg, 49, can walk, his wife is paralyzed, relying on a motorized wheelchair to move around. Despite this, Brenda would be a staple at FHL hockey games. “She would go there (the Danbury Ice Arena) every single day and sit around in the stands for a total of probably eight hours just to watch an hour of practice,” Greg said. Donny Grover, a former Trashers defenseman, eventually noticed Brenda in the stands and invited her onto the ice. She accepted and over the next two years would occasionally hit pucks around, even after the Trashers folded in 2006. Danbury eventually became home to the Eastern Professional League’s Mad Hatters in 2008, Brenda was given a new on-ice opportunity when Mad Hatters’ goalie Jeff Hill jokingly yelled at her to “Be a man. Be a goalie,” to which she said, “Alright. I will.” Because of the nature of her condition, she was unable to wear conventional goalie equipment. So Greg fashioned equipment with his own hands in the hope that Brenda would be able to play. The joy of playing the sport makes her feel, in her own words, “on top of the world,” far outweighing any pain she has endured. “She forgets about being in the chair,” Greg added. 25-year-old Eric Vogel, a fellow goalie drafted by the expansion Southwestern Pennsylvania Magic of the Federal League in June, struck up a friendship with Brenda via Facebook. He even went as far as to invite Greg and Brenda to training camp. Unfortunately the camp was postponed, but that never stopped Brenda. She followed Vogel to the Ice Line in West Chester, Pennsylvania, and got a chance to play some 3 on 3. “She was loving it,” said Vogel. “She had always wanted to play in a game and afterward she kept talking, ‘Did you see this save and that save?’ It was really, really great. She had tears in her eyes and was thanking us so much.” He explained, “No matter what type of day you had when you go out on the ice for an hour, hour and a half or two hours you forget everything that happened that day and you focus on that black little puck. That is it.”