Round Three
The Devils win four in a row to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in nine years. There aren’t that many bills I look forward to getting, and Round 3 Stanley Cup Playoff tickets set the bar pretty high. Where do you start being proud of this team, as a fan? [...]
Five Reasons The Devils Can Knock Off The Flyers
The Devils can knock off the Flyers, probably in six or seven games, because they have the right ingredients with the right blend at the right time. 1. They do the little things. Clarkson’s Game 2-winning goal doesn’t happen if Elias doesn’t poke-check the puck away from his man on the half-boards. It’s not on [...]
Teamwork and Accountability
We can dish out blame for last night’s Devils playoff loss all over the place: the inconsistent referees, the fact that Kovulchuk skated like he’s got a “lower body injury” (groin, hamstring, torn back), DeBoer’s line shuffles that accomplished nothing, Marty’s decision to play the puck without looking at the forecheckers, Volchenkov once again managing [...]
Triangulation: In Memory of Pierre Pellaton
Pierre Pellaton, hockey coach for more than 30 years, died last night. He will be sorely missed. Pierre was the one coach that everybody loved. I really do mean everybody – players, parents, other coaches, the NJ Devils Youth Hockey board, refs, the Zamboni guy. It was impossible not to like him, with his outsized [...]
Career Goals and Points
I stand corrected – a few weeks ago I posted that 2011-2012 would be the last year in Patrik Elias’ contract with the Devils. It’s not; I was off by a year and inadvertently rushed him out the door. No, no, no, no didn’t want to do that. Let’s just say that a guy who [...]
Empty Ne(s)t
Bubba and I have been Devils season ticket holders since the summer of 1999, when I saw a classified ad in the town newspaper looking for someone to split a ticket package. We didn’t realize that we’d buy into a Stanley Cup run, Scott Gomez’ Calder-recognized rookie year, and Patrik Elias’ breakout season. Going to [...]
Not With A Bang But A Whimper
This is the way the 2010-2011 hockey world ends, not with a bang, but a whimper (and apologies to T S Eliot). For the first time since we began following our hometown hockey boys, there is no April joy, no second season, no reason to start watching out of market games because of their scheduling [...]
The Right Way To Lose
Sunday night, the Seven Seals played our first-round adult ice hockey league playoff game against the top-seeded team, who had previously beaten us by baseball and football scores (13-0, 12-2, 9-1 to provide some illustration). However, our last two games against the same team were both 1-goal losses, and we actually held them scoreless for [...]
Hope For The Devils
The bad news: Parise is likely done for the year, Taormina is probably also done after ankle surgery (12 week recovery from that one, been there, done that), Salvador may have suffered a Scott Stevens-like concussion, and the team is still dead last in the NHL. But there’s good news, for the first time since [...]
Devils and The Playoffs: A Numbers Game
The Devils have played 32 games, won 9 and lost 2 in overtime, good for 20 points. They are earning 0.625 points per game, or about 31% of the possible points. To put that in perspective, the last few playoff spots in the Eastern Conference go to teams with between 86-94 points. More specifically, to [...]