Maybe it's because I've been out of state for so long, close to 30 years. In that span of time I attended two games at JLA: Game 1 of the Cup Final in '08 (nice trip, Fleury) and Game 2 of the Conference Final in '09 (nice OT winner, Sammy). Maybe it's because of the way the Holland-constructed team fell flat this year. Heck, maybe it's because of the number of times I had to read or hear about the "final (insert occasion here) at the Joe".
All I know is that up to Sunday, the idea of The Joe no mo didn't make me misty and sad.