We're coming to the end of the first round of hockey's Stanley Cup Playoffs, which is one of my favorite times of the year. I won't bore you with why I like watching, especially since I've already devoted previous blog space to it.
I also saw where the Norfolk Admirals of the AHL just lost after winning 29 straight games, and it reminded me of the first game I saw live.
I joined the US Navy in August 1989, somehow surviving basic training, and proceded to my 14-week Operations Specialist "A" School, at Dam Neck, Virginia, near Norfolk in October. This is the off season in that part of the world-- rainy and windy and chilly. A sailor could do just about anything for a low, low price. Especially teenaged sailors who suddenly have a little freedom to move about, after 2+ months of confinement during boot camp.
As for the school itself, there were four classes of about 25 assigned to each barracks were we stayed, and the most senior class typically wasn't on the watchbill, for quarterdeck and rover watches, though the custom was to stay in the neighborhood, since you were still on duty.
The story picks up right around the first week of February, with my class, #90043, as the furthest along.
One Friday, a 'duty' day for my class, I was able to buy discounted Hampton Roads (as they were then known) Admirals hockey tickets on base and went, even though I knew I was taking a chance. So I got onto the bus headed to Norfolk Scope arena for the game against the Virginia Lancers. I remember buying a program and thinking I'd recognize a name or two on the rosters, but no dice. The final was 6-3, though I can't seem to recall who won.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the game was up. Of course I/we had been found out. It turned out I went in one direction, and some of my classmates had gone in another, so the safety was in numbers, and no trouble came our way.
I think I still have the program around here somewhere.
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