Welcome to a new feature of Kat's Devils Den!
For those of you unfamiliar with the concept, this is a web log - or as they are more familiarly known as - a blog. Blogs are a sort of online diary and bloggers (those who keep or write blogs) pretty much write about whatever they feel like. The subject of this particular blog will, of course, be the 3 time Stanley Cup winning New Jersey Devils Hockey team.
Back in 1995, during the 95-96 season I wrote a series of columns called "Between the Lines" for an online NJ Devils Zine called "The Devils Lair" - written and edited by Seth A. Ovadia, who was, at the time, a student at the University of Maryland at College Park. I don't know where Seth is today, because we lost track after he graduated, but "The Devils Lair" still lives on. I guess the University of Maryland doesn't clean up their servers very often.
Anyway, I'm going to attempt to revive the column here. This will be a commentary on games I go to, players and the team in general. You won't find scores, late breaking news or gossip - just my opinion on things in general.
We went to our first pre-season game this past Saturday. Saw a couple of section 111 regulars and chatted about the summer. One of the comments we bandied about was the fact that there seemed to be a lot less Stanley Cup merchandise and hoopla this year in comparison to 1995 and 2000. Guess winning the Cup is becoming old hat around here - at least for some folks.
Since we are season ticket holders, we did get an invitation in the mail from the Devils to get our pictures taken with the Stanley Cup. They did this in 2000 and we were hoping to get to do it again. I can't wait. No matter how many times I have been able to get up close and personal with Lord Stanley's silver chalice, I get goose bumps. It really is something to see.
The game itself was typical preseason - a couple of fights - Fedoruk (Phil) & Skrlac (NJ), Weinrich (Phil) & Marshall (NJ) - some scoring NJ 4, Phil 2. Marty made some nice saves, but nothing earth shattering or very exciting happened.
Philly has that other Mike Peluso and it was kind of weird hearing that name - knowing that our Mike Peluso is out of hockey. This one seems a bit more talented, but he doesn't have the same kind of flair.
Regular season starts October 8 in Boston and the first home game is October 16 vs. Toronto. Don't miss it. This is Banner Night when we raise our 3rd. All fans attending get a mini banner as a souvenir. On Saturday, October 18th all fans attending the Tampa Bay game will get a Stanley Cup hat.