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What got you into hockey?


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You're definitely not the only Devils/Seahawks fan. I'm there with ya and I know a handful of others in NJ as well.

Whaaat!? I'm always shocked when I talk to another Seahawks fan. I've never been to a Seahawks game, I would love to go to one in Seattle. I got a chance to visit Seattle last year (for only one day) and it was an awesome city. I went to Qwest... well now CLink Field and took about a zillion pictures and blew way too much money in the Pro Shop, lol.

We had a decent rebound this second half... and I know it's meaningless but I hope we pound Arizona today anyways.

Anyways I'll stop myself before I go on and on cause this is not a football thread... Lol

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For me it was when I saw the Stanley Cup when I was 9 years old after the Devils won it in 95.

Growing up in Jersey City it was all baseball and basketball as a kid. So I didn't get exposed to hockey till the Devils won it in 95. I got dropped off at school one day and then went around the corner to Gary's Sweet Shop on Westside Ave to get Sour Patch Kids like me and my friends always did. The teachers tried to stop us from going so we had to sneak away lol. The owner Gary new someone or one of the Devils and had the Stanley Cup in the coffee shop!! We walked in and it was sitting on the counter!!! I got to see it and unfortunately couldn't see which Devil it was. My mom was there earlier and got to touch it!!

After that I was all about the Devils and then learned to love hockey from there on. My Dad started taking me to games in highschool but he was all about basketball and the Nets. My mom not a huge hockey fan roots casually for the Rags. Baseball I've played since I was old enough to walk and its my fav sport of all. I still like and play basketball constantly; sick of the NBA but LOVE hockey and playing it way more!!

You can go to Gary's and still see the picture behind the counter with him and his son around the Stanley Cup.

Edited by ChilltownDevs2673
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My parents got me into hockey. They always took me to any event that was going on at the Meadowlands or Continental Airlines Arena. I know the first time I got into hockey was around 6th or 7th grade back in the early 90's. My first favorite player was Bernie Nicholls when he played for the Devils and then when he left, it was Scott Stevens.

The one moment I remember vividly when I was younger was a game that I was at where Oliwa was sent to the penalty box and the Devils were getting crushed by the Caps and he tried climbing out of the Penalty box.

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Whaaat!? I'm always shocked when I talk to another Seahawks fan. I've never been to a Seahawks game, I would love to go to one in Seattle. I got a chance to visit Seattle last year (for only one day) and it was an awesome city. I went to Qwest... well now CLink Field and took about a zillion pictures and blew way too much money in the Pro Shop, lol.

We had a decent rebound this second half... and I know it's meaningless but I hope we pound Arizona today anyways.

Anyways I'll stop myself before I go on and on cause this is not a football thread... Lol

My plan for my great post-grad school graduation celebration is to fly out to San Diego and spend two weeks on the west coast, driving up to Seattle/Vancouver, and going to the Seahawks home opener. I've never been to Seattle (and therefore a home Seahawks game) before and I'm dying to. This probably won't happen this summer/fall, but maybe if I'm lucky I can swing it in 2013.

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And to bring this back to topic (again)...I got into hockey through my father, a Rangers fan. He was always watching Rangers games, but the first game he bought me to was a Devils game (cheaper tickets, probably through work). Spring of 1993, so I was 11 years old. Devils Vs. Sharks. Devils won, 5-0. All five goals were scored in the second (which means all five goals were scored in the net on the far opposite side of the arena from where we were sitting). Chris Terreri had a shutout, and Stephane Richer scored a natural hat trick.

It remains the only hat trick I've actually seen in person. My father would not let me throw my hat because he had just purchased it for me that evening. Been a Devils fan ever since.

Oddly, I got away from hockey for awhile in the early-to-mid-'00s. I always kind of followed the Devils but not very closely...I can actually remember the '95 cup best and barely have any recollection of the '03 cup at all.

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You do realize that Seattle to Vancouver is about a 3 hour drive (~150 miles), right?

A lot of people look at a map and think "wow, it's just a half inch away...", but what's impossible to realize is that the standard North American map projection causes things in the corners to squish together.

You probably know already (and heck, San Diego to Seattle is a whole different ball game anyway... that's like a 24 hour drive, if not more), but I figured that I'd mention it. I used to live in Portland, a couple of years ago, which is what really brought that whole situation home for me personally.

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The video games did the job for me. People don't give a crap about hockey where I live, so there was nobody to get me into it. But I always loved video games and I installed NHL 2001 demo one day just for the hell of it. Out of the two teams in the demo (the Devils and the Stars, obviously) I picked the Devs because I liked the name, the colours and the logo. :P I got the full version, played a little bit, learnt the rules of hockey thanks to it.

My getting into hockey was fairly similar. Ice hockey in Australia? Say what?

It was about 92-93, when i was at my mates place, and we decided to play hockey on his Amiga (if anyone remembers those), and i chose the Devils because when i was young i listened to Bon Jovi and knew he was from Jersey.

I kept playing video games, more specifically the 2k hockey series from 2002 - 2005, then with internet in Australia finally getting semi-respectable it occurred to me to start trying to find games to watch and follow the NHL.

So i slowly started watching, and getting into it, until i started subscribing to the NHL Gamecenter 3 years ago, and bought countless merchandise items, and even flew to California for the 3 game road trip last year.

I'm now also flying to Jersey in March for 2 1/2 weeks holiday and 5 home games :)

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My dad and the Columbus Blue Jackets. I didn't really know what hockey was until the Blue Jackets came to Columbus and youth hockey exploded. Being born in 1991, I was at the perfect age to start playing and fell in love with the game. For as long as I can remember, my dad has had a green NJD starter jacket and I would always wear that thing to the rink. As a defense men, I loved Scott Stevens play and aggressiveness.

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You do realize that Seattle to Vancouver is about a 3 hour drive (~150 miles), right?

A lot of people look at a map and think "wow, it's just a half inch away...", but what's impossible to realize is that the standard North American map projection causes things in the corners to squish together.

You probably know already (and heck, San Diego to Seattle is a whole different ball game anyway... that's like a 24 hour drive, if not more), but I figured that I'd mention it. I used to live in Portland, a couple of years ago, which is what really brought that whole situation home for me personally.

I'm planning on going from San Diego to Seattle, another 3 hours won't kill me. :lol: I've spent some time on the west coast, so I have a general idea as to the distances between the major cities. It's just a road trip I've always wanted to take, and it used to always been San Diego to Seattle, but lately Vancouver's been interesting to me as well.

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I'm planning on going from San Diego to Seattle, another 3 hours won't kill me. :lol: I've spent some time on the west coast, so I have a general idea as to the distances between the major cities. It's just a road trip I've always wanted to take, and it used to always been San Diego to Seattle, but lately Vancouver's been interesting to me as well.

I feel like a certain riot has a little something to do with that :P

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The Olympics were, like, 18 months ago... ?

Regardless, Vancouver is an absolutely beautiful city. British Columbia is breathtakingly beautiful. We (some friends from work and I) went up there to go to Whistler a couple of times. If you ski at all (and even if you don't, really), I highly recommend it.

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When I was in first grade I think my uncle got my dad and I tickets for a Devils and Blackhawks game. It ended in a 2-2 tie and I was hooked ever since. No shootout necessary. The same uncle later got me a Rangers jersey for my birthday that I now use to mop up spills or wipe muddy shoes on, etc.

It also helped greatly that my next-door neighbor was already into hockey. He came over like every day after school and we played hockey on my backyard patio using baseball bats and broken tee-ball tees as sticks, and the little seedpods that fell off the tree in my backyard as pucks. Eventually we got real equipment and started playing in our street on a daily basis with some other kids from my street and around the corner. Most of them are older than me and when they got to middle school that kind of ended it sadly and we all kind of stopped talking to each other and have since moved out on our own, although I kept playing in leagues and stuff, and two of the others still play. Over the past few years I have played against that next-door neighbor in roller hockey games at Inman which I think is pretty cool because we played there when we were in elementary school and used to compare how our teams were doing.

Edited by devilsfan26
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God I hate the shootout... Sorry. I'd start a thread if I could, but I can't, so I let my little rant go here. :)

Anyway, you must (have) lived just down the street from me... 'course, there's like an 18 year time difference as well, but that's besides the point.

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I already posted on the other thread. what got me to hockey was a Brodeur save back in 08. I was flipping channels and i was going to pass the channel but brodeu made one crazy save, i decide to stay and watch a little bit more, I ended up watching the whole game and by the end i discovered that the Devils were based on New Jersey , so that's how i got into hockey and became a Devils fan.

I should mention that before that game i did force myself to root for the rangers(didn't know about NJ @ the time) but could not watch more then 10 minutes of a Ranger game(did that 3 times) , the Rangers just bored everytime i watched them playing.

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i do have stories but seriously kinda impossible to remember what "got" me into hockey cause like is said... where i live it's like a religion here... as soon as youre born here you start getting hockey cloths and gift its like the "safe bet gift", 80% of the kids are growing up with a goal in their driveway or inside eventually, or playing hockey at school but anywayi remember when i was like 5-6 years old i was drawing a lot and i had a bunch of hockey cards and hockey stuff and at that age i didnt really liked a team in particular, i was a fan of the league really so i remember drawing all the logos, and they were done pretty well from what i can remember (when you consider that i was super young haha) ended up 20 something years later making a living as a graphic designer so hockey kinda brought me that much.Then when you grow up around here youre kinda brainwashed to cheer for Montreal. But my father was a huge Nordique fan and my sister a Bruins fan and everyone else that i knew were Habs fans but then heard about Brodeur on tv when he was drafted and remember hearing about him on tv before that and i was a goalie at the time (8 years old in 1992) so i kinda decided he was my idol (yup just like that) and that's why i choose New Jersey... pretty damn good choice

Yep, definitely. You can't escape hockey in Montreal...if you're not into hockey its probably because you really don't love this game and had to reject it. Its never because you got into another sport earlier or because you never really was initiated. Your kinda brought into it as soon as your born.

I remember being a Habs fan just because all my friends and all my family were fans of the Habs. However I only liked Saku Koivu in the whole team. I remember being laughed at because he was my favorite player...other kids were fans of players like Pavel Bure, Peter Bondra, Jagr

I became fan of the Devils because of Scott Niedermayer. I don't know why I liked him so much. I mean its hard for a kid to appreciate the play of a Defense-man because you usual like the guy who scores a lot of goals or the goalie because he stops the pucks from getting in, but a defense-man work is harder to appreciate for a kid. However I remember being in complete love with the way he skated. Actually followed the Devils throughout the 2000 playoffs because of Niedermayer ( game after game I was slowly becoming a Devil) and at the end of the playoffs when I saw Stevens, Niedermayer etc lifting the cup I had became a fan.

Edited by SS-SS
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The Olympics were, like, 18 months ago... ?

Regardless, Vancouver is an absolutely beautiful city. British Columbia is breathtakingly beautiful. We (some friends from work and I) went up there to go to Whistler a couple of times. If you ski at all (and even if you don't, really), I highly recommend it.

i grew up in colorado and even i will say that its basically my dream to eventually snowboard in BC. the place is epic

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Wow some awesome stories here.

I know my sister was brought into the game the same way i was, geez go figure right? ;). She did take a liking to Patty early on and is a huge fan right now. She became a first time FULL STH this season and that doesnt look like it will change as long as she can scream "you suck" when we score. :)

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I started watching games in 1994 with my brother who is a huge Rangers fan. Once I realized their was a team in New Jersey I became a Devils fan. Even at age 6 it didn't make sense to me to cheer for a New York team when there was a New Jersey team.

Edited by thefiestygoat
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I had hurt my back and couldn't sleep for anything and happened upon the triple overtime game against Dallas and I was hooked.

Amazingly I had gone to a lot of games around '85-87 as my then boyfriend got free tickets all the time. Neither one of us knew what the hell was going on, but it was something to do, so off we went. I remember sometimes being the only people in the whole section, and I don't think we ever went to a winning game. I wish I had all those free tickets now!

Watching the games on TV, and this board helped me learn a lot about the game, which made all the difference. I took my daughter to her first game yesterday and she is hooked. She is still walking around the house chanting kill...I hope by Tuesday she gets over it, before I have to explain to her kindergarten teacher that it's a hockey thing!

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I grew up in North Carolina in the '70s and only vaguely knew there was such a thing as hockey before seeing the "Miracle on Ice" during the 1980 Olympics. Then I never saw it again until sometime in 1983, when my college roommates and I finally had cable installed. One day soon after that, I was flipping channels and stopped on a game. I don't even remember now what teams were playing, but I was mesmerized. After that I watched any time I found a game, although that was not very often. Still, it was at a time when I was able to see Gretzky and Messier with the Oilers, and Lemieux and Jagr with the Penguins, which of course was a good way to get introduced to the game.

At the same time, though, I come from a family that is not generally sports oriented, and my wife isn't into sports either, so I was only a very casual fan for all those years.

Flash forward to 2006: My wife and I are living in NJ by then, but my aunt, who lives in Raliegh, was absolutely nutso excited about the 'Canes run to the Cup. Her enthusiasm made my wife want to watch the games, and of course I was only too happy to oblige. Long story short, my wife flipped out over it. During the finals, I said "You know, if you're really digging this, we live righting the middle of some of the best teams in the league. We can watch as much hockey as you can stand when next season rolls around."

So during the 06-07 season we went to a couple Rangers games, a handful of Devils games, and even a couple 'Canes games, and watched almost all the Rangers and Devils games on TV. Over the course of that season and the next it just became clearer and clearer to us that we both preferred the Devils over the Rangers. After Avery's bullsh!t in front of Marty during that '08 playoff game, we dropped the Rangers entirely and have been loyal Devils fans ever since.

Edited by Brick Pig
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My plan for my great post-grad school graduation celebration is to fly out to San Diego and spend two weeks on the west coast, driving up to Seattle/Vancouver, and going to the Seahawks home opener. I've never been to Seattle (and therefore a home Seahawks game) before and I'm dying to. This probably won't happen this summer/fall, but maybe if I'm lucky I can swing it in 2013.

That sounds like an awesome plan. I'm jealous. I lived in Petaluma, CA from May 2010 - the first week of October 2010 for training. I really should've made my way up there for a game.

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grew up in bergen county had a french canadian grade school best friend who needed a street hockey partner in 6th grade. started shooting real pucks in my basement against the wall, and started skating before school when ponds actually froze in NNJ for weeks at a time = early 70s

challanged the neighboring towns kids to a street hockey game in the 8th grade and it grew into a big event throughout HS we had more students at our street hockey games than the HS football team LOL because of the fights! honed a nasty slap shot. went to jack rilys hockey camp for 2 years for summer vacation.

was a boston bruin fan for some strange reason. because of orr, but the sight of brad park in a bruins jersey was too much, and i went off to college and left hockey

20 years later I marry a devils fan! so she takes me to a few games and I watch a few PO series and cup wins with her, but still dont "get into" the game. then my second son turns 7 and his school has a skate day so I take off from work and go skating with him and the school for the first time in 30 YEARS!!! rental skates and age lol its not like riding a bike I felt weird out there but slowly it started coming back. went out and bought him and I skates and pads and started reading and viewing laura stam and Skinner skating instructions

a few pond hockey nights passing the puck around with my son finally kicked my love of hockey back in. so after being a fringe devils fan for a few years I decided I would commit to them after seeing zach in the olympics and kovy skating the puck in.

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