Note: This was written about 6 months ago and was a draft on my other blog.
Nostalgia(nos·tal·gia)-pleasure and sadness that is caused by remembering something from the past and wishing that you could experience it again.
This definition is how I feel most of the time. Sometimes you can recreate the experience but somethings after a period of time cease to exist.
Last March I went to my first hockey game. Hockey was totally new to me I was still learning about teams,leagues and players. Growing up in Maine the two hockey teams i'd ever heard about was the Boston Bruins and the Portland Pirates. The experience of going to my first hockey game is something I will never forget.
March 20th 2015. Portland Pirates vs Hershey Bears. I had just gotten into hockey a couple months before so when I found out my college had discounted tickets for $10 I jumped at the chance to go. My best friend didn't know anything about hockey or care about it for that matter but I convinced her to go. She had a piece of shit car so we had my aunt chauffeur us to the game. I have to admit I went to the game to cheer for the visiting team.
March 20th 2015. Portland Pirates vs Hershey Bears. I had just gotten into hockey a couple months before so when I found out my college had discounted tickets for $10 I jumped at the chance to go. My best friend didn't know anything about hockey or care about it for that matter but I convinced her to go. She had a piece of shit car so we had my aunt chauffeur us to the game. I have to admit I went to the game to cheer for the visiting team.
As soon as I bought tickets I looked up when the pirates were play the Washington Capitals affiliate Hershey Bears. They were my favorite team and still are. The the tickets were for any game and pretty much any seats we wanted. We were lucky and had some other Hershey fans around us. The atmosphere was great being surrounded by fellow hockey fans and people who had never been to a game before either. The experience as a fun was great I ended up tweeting about the game twitter and bantered back and forth with the Portland Pirates twitter account along with catching a thrown t shirt.
Looking back I wish I had been paying more attention to the Pirates that night. The Hershey bears won with Andre Burakovsky getting his first AHL goal and the game winning overtime goal. I was ecstatic seeing someone I watched play with the Capitals on TV in person not to mention he was one of my favorite players at the time. I followed along with the Portland pirates the rest of the season and wanted to go again this season but it never happened. A first game experience is something that you don't forget and I know I won't. Even though I'm no longer friends with the person I went to the game with I can't erase the memory of how much fun we had together. Those moments aren't what I remember most about hockey games. The moments I remember are moment I heard someone hit the board for the first time or the moment of happiness I witnessed a team get when they won in overtime.
The overwhelming feeling of sadness hit me when I heard that the Pirates were leaving Maine. 23 years of history is gone.I will never see them play in Portland again. Once they move to Springfield Massachusetts they won't be the Pirates anymore. The Pirates will no longer exist. It's like when someone passes away you're constantly reminded of them but know that they are gone and never coming back.
When I see stickers and t shirts from the Portland Pirates I will remember that they were once my states professional hockey team. The players will never be forgotten,the mascot will never be forgotten and the history of the team will never be forgotten. I'm glad that my first hockey game was a Portland Pirates game.
Being nostalgic reminds you that things in your life hasn't always been bad and that feeling of sadness can easily be replaced by making new memories with new people at new places while doing new things. I'd rather live my life with happy memories overshadowing the sad ones.
