Over spring break, my family and I took a trip to St. Pete’s Beach, an area around Tampa, Florida. While planning our vacation, we looked into many of the things to do around the area. Of course we would have to go see the Clearwater Marine Aquarium and see Winter, the dolphin without a tail. The beach is a main and important attraction. I also planned on dragging my family to a mall to visit some stores were don’t have around home (this mission was successful). But being the weird, crazy hockey fans we are, my dad and I knew there was something missing from our itinerary. Tampa is also home to the Tampa Bay Lightning, an NHL team that many former Erie Otter’s players are connected to.
While we were in the area, the Lightning had two home games, and my dad and I really wanted to go to one. Unfortunately, my mother is not quite the hockey fan we are. In fact, she kind of hates the sport, and how much of our attention goes toward it (sorry Mom!!). Because of this, we had not originally planned on making our way into the downtown area to catch a game. No one that we knew was actually on the team, and they weren’t playing me or my dad’s favorite team, so it really wasn’t a terrible miss, right?
Wrong. The week before our trip, former Erie Otter and last year’s championship-winning-goal scorer Anthony Cirelli got called up to play for the Lightning in his first NHL game. In this game he scored a goal and had an assist, and proved his place in the big leagues, at least until the team was healthy again. This meant that Cirelli would be playing in the games that happened while we were there, and our excitement grew even further.
My mother could see that we both really wanted to go, and since the weather ended up being colder than we had hoped and there was little to do on weeknights in our hotel’s area, she gave in. To the game we went!
https://twitter.com/JessTaylor2712/status/971932462057172993
We got to the arena early, and made our way to the lower level seats to watch warm ups. I watched as Cirelli skated round and round, excited that I would get to see a former Otter while he worked to prove himself even further. My dad had his Erie Otters Championship t-shirt on and tried to get Anthony’s attention as he got off the ice, but to no prevail. He was far to focused on the game ahead to get distracted by fans (even if we HAD come from over 1,000 miles).
Anthony Cirelli of the @TBLightning has collected 2-3—5 through the first four games of his NHL career (1.25 P/GP). #NHLStats #NYRvsTBL pic.twitter.com/WCnNAxQGQZ
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) March 9, 2018
Have yourself a game, kid! #NYRvsTBL pic.twitter.com/XRzjBOOeh2
— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) March 9, 2018
But he definitely did not disappoint. In the game, Cirelli scored two of the team’s five goals and tallied an assist in the team’s 5-3 victory over the New York Rangers and was voted first star of the game. We waited in our seats after the game, and listen to our little Otter give his first of what will surely be many interviews to an on-ice reporter.
On gaining confidence from his first game: “It definitely calmed me down a bit, but every game here, we’re playing a really good team and you have to be able to bring it every night."#NYRvsTBL | Anthony Cirelli: pic.twitter.com/boBGrL6wlv
— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) March 9, 2018
Needless to say, we were very glad we went to the game.
Your spring break sounds like it was awesome! Who knew you’d spend your time in Florida so close to the ice? I never really thought too much about it before reading your post, but it’s interesting how far Cirelli (like many other athletes) had to relocate in order to play in the big leagues. His whole life had to shift, thousands of miles, and all for the game of hockey. It just goes to show you how much the game means to these players, and how much it means to their fans (like you!) who are willing to visit them even as they play thousands of miles away.