38 replies to this topic

[TomsRiverDevil]

I had the NHL video games (95 and 97). I always a picked NJ, because that's where I live. I guess I got to know some player names that way. I live by the infamous Jersey shore, and one time on the boardwalk I saw a playoff game from 2000. You what happened later, but from that point on I was all devils all the time.

[DevilMinder]

Huge thread here, lots of cool stories

http://www.njdevs.co...opic=21390&st=0

[Chuck the Duck]

My father took me to a game vs. the Caps in 1985 when I was 8. I sat in the section directly behind the goal the Devils attacked twice, almost got hit with a puck (this was way before they put nets up to protect the fans sitting behind the goals), and remember the Devils winning the game. I was hooked from that point, and used to listen to the games on the radio before my parents finally broke down and ordered Sportschannel in 1990.

[Zubie#8]

Randomly turned on the TV when I was 8 yrs old in 1998 and a Devil game was on. Could of easily been a Rangers Islanders or flyers game.

Edited by Zubie#8, 14 March 2012 - 04:07 PM.

[SterioDesign]

when Trent Hunter was traded to NJ this summer i sent myself in the past 20 years ago with a time machine to tell my younger self that i had to become a Devils fans...

saddly by the time i was back in present time he was gone and the time machine broke down... oh well

[Devs4LordStanley]

I started watching them around 2001 and I was at the 2003 Stanley Cup game. In the 2002-2003 season, I wanted to go to a Devil Ranger game, so my dad's co-worker at the time hooked us up with her friend who worked for the Devils as a ticket seller. After going to a couple of games, one game when we were about to purchase tickets, the ticket seller said "no charge." At the time, I used to bring my service dog Titus everywhere I went and I guess the ticket seller told the VP of ticketing, who is a dog lover, about Titus and me. Soon after that, the ticket seller finally introduced us to the VP and soon after that, the ticket seller retired. To this day, I keep in touch with the VP and I go to the games as much as I can.

Long story short, free tix to 2003 cup game & to any other game sweetened the deal.

[DevsMan84]

I'll bite on this:

My uncle introducted my family to hockey first in the late 80's. He was a life-long Rags fan and while I was too young to really care for anything my older brother and father started watching them too. They were big soccer fans and since hockey and soccer are not too far apart they got hooked too. Since the Rangers were the only team we could get on regular TV at the time, my brother and father became Rangers fans.

My father's business partner was a pretty big Devils fan at the time and offered my Dad a couple of lower level tickets to the BBA against the Whalers if I remember right. This was in late 1989 and my father and I went and we had a blast. I still cannot remember who won and everything, I just remember the teams playing and that the guy next to me was wearing a white Daneyko jersey and was screaming through most of the game. Needless to say I stared mostly at him throughout the game lol. After that game my dad switched allegiences to the Devils and that is when I became a Devils fan at that point.

We would later get season tickets a couple seasons later (not sure if it was 91-92 or 92-93 but I remember our first season as STH was the last season they wore their old red, white and green jerseys). At this time we got Sports Channel through a scrambler that TKR Cable gave us and remember having to either put it on channel like 37 or 38 at the time to get the Devils and it was only on the one TV that had that sh!tty little brown box. We would have the season tickets all the way until the 02-03 season when they just got a little too pricey for us.

Anyways thats my story and my older bro is still a Rags fan to this day.

Also the way my dad's business partner became a Devils fan too is great. He recently told us his story where sometime in the mid 80's when he couldn't care less about hockey some buddies of his took him to a Devils/Rangers game at BBA. He was asked who was he rooting for and he jokingly said the first team that scored. Well I think you can guess who scored first.

[ScoreMoreThan3]

I was in first grade. (1990)
I picked up the sports section of the Star Ledger. Saw that there were three teams with bold lettering, two New York, one New Jersey.
I was a kid at the time and though, 'I live in New Jersey.'
Pretty much started following them every day from there on out.

I'm Italian and my mom found out their goalie at the time was Italian (Terreri) and was all about me being a fan after that haha.
I later found out that my dentist, a close friend of the family, who is out of Elizabeth, NJ, worked on a lot of the players teeth.
He was able to get me Ken Daneyko, Claude Lemiuex, and Bill Guerin's autograph.
That was huge for me as a little kid.

Edited by ScoreMoreThan3, 14 March 2012 - 05:08 PM.

[grcenter47]

Honestly by going to a game around 1992 and 1993 with my parents. My first favorite Devil was Bernie Nicholls and I remember getting a green devils cap at the game.

[Fred Garvin]

My now bald uncle gave me my first Devils hat when i was around 4 somewhere around the 94 playoffs. I really dont remember.
But my first game was not until 99, when the devils first played Nashville. Since then I cannot stop watching... So I blame him...

[DevsMan84]

I was in first grade. (1990)
I picked up the sports section of the Star Ledger. Saw that there were three teams with bold lettering, two New York, one New Jersey.
I was a kid at the time and though, 'I live in New Jersey.'
Pretty much started following them every day from there on out.

I'm Italian and my mom found out their goalie at the time was Italian (Terreri) and was all about me being a fan after that haha.
I later found out that my dentist, a close friend of the family, who is out of Elizabeth, NJ, worked on a lot of the players teeth.
He was able to get me Ken Daneyko, Claude Lemiuex, and Bill Guerin's autograph.
That was huge for me as a little kid.

I remember being huge into terreri back in the day. Loved his name and his mask. I would say from that era him, daneyko, and maclean were my favorite players.

[BehindTheNet]

In the UK they used to show the NHL on one of the free channels live in the early hours like once a week and my friend and I used to video tape it then meet up and watch the game the next day. I started really enjoy watching one player some guy called Brodeur I started following the team he played for a little bit more. My rents took me to a hockey game in Cardiff who were also coincidently the Devils my local city to watch a game for my birthday and here I am year's later running a UK hockey website and a die hard fan of New Jersey Devils and a season ticket holder at Cardiff.

[Vic Rattlehead18]

When I was 10 my dad had money on the devils to win game 4 in 95. So I watched the game with him. I was always into monsters and metal, so I thought the team being called the devils was awesome, plus they were from jersey. Didn't really watch hockey the next season aside from a bunch of islander replays that were on during the day when I was home for lunch (almost became an islanders fan, eep!) And then went to a devils game in 96 where they beat the kings...or caps?

[Legion15]

back in the winter of '93. There was that blizzard, and then the rest of the time there wasn't much to do. My parents decided to take us to a hockey game and we were hooked. I remember back then we didn't have cable (where I lived, comcast wouldn't install cause we lived on a driveway pretty far off the street and they weren't going to run wires for just us) and we didn't get DirecTV til later on, so I remember running down to my grandmother's in Stanhope to watch SportsChannel. I remember watching that game 7 in 94. (I still won't admit that clinching goal was legal, but that's something else...)

So after that we started going to a few games a season til it got expensive and then after that I managed to go a couple times a year + playoffs with my best friend who had a season tix connection. Always sat in the same seats sec 120 row 20 seats 13 & 14. I was at the game in 2000 when it went to 3OT and at 1:15am we lost. Turns out Cindi Lauper was in the row behind us all the way at the other end, go figure, that's why people kept running over to this short lady with white hair (with green and pink streaks)

I know where I am in that painting of the 95 celebration...I even got my picture in some paper that was covering the celebration, don't know which, I'll have to see if I can find the article, it's in a box somewhere in the house...


From then on, I've always been a die hard fan.

[njdevs89]

As a child growing up near Toronto in a family full of leafs fans, I use to like the leafs as a kid. I would play my nhl 94 game for sega all the time and I would either always pick toronto, or florida. For whatever reason, back then, the devils always gave me the hardest time on those early-late video games. I decided to start playing with them all the time as I just owned all of my friends with them. I became familiar with all of our players past and present, then just fell in love once I heard so much praise from my dad about Stevens. Then yeah, at age 10 I became a devils fan.

[Devilsfan118]

All my friends were Flyers fans, and I went to a game with them (and their parents) in the 3rd grade or so (around 1997-1988)...against the Devils.

Saw that Brodeur fellow, along with some guy named Stevens and some smooth-skating guy named Niedermayer, and I was all but sold. No one in my family followed hockey at all, so I happily turned my Dad into a big Devils fan. Went to my first Devils game at the CAA against the Blackhawks later that month.

Two cups and countless memories later (both good..and bad, naturally) later, and the rest is history!

[Colin226]

In the UK they used to show the NHL on one of the free channels live in the early hours like once a week and my friend and I used to video tape it then meet up and watch the game the next day. I started really enjoy watching one player some guy called Brodeur I started following the team he played for a little bit more. My rents took me to a hockey game in Cardiff who were also coincidently the Devils my local city to watch a game for my birthday and here I am year's later running a UK hockey website and a die hard fan of New Jersey Devils and a season ticket holder at Cardiff.

That's pretty awesome

[ATLL765]

I don't really have a cool story, but my Dad became a fan soon after the Devs came to town and I was taken to games starting at infancy, so the Devils have just been omnipresent in my life. OI do have a vivid memory of being at the CAA when Brodeur scored a goal against the Canadiens in the 96-97 playoffs.

On a slightly unrelated note, I'll never forget finding it completely hilarious that a Ducks fan got on tv during the '03 SCF because he told his girlfriend that he'd propose if the Ducks won the Cup....we all know what happened there. I thought it was super lame that they still caught up with him and he of course was forced to propose anyways, lol. It was after that point that I really followed the Devils as a die hard fan. I've made sure I've caught at least 90% of the games from that point on.

[ScoreMoreThan3]

I remember being huge into terreri back in the day. Loved his name and his mask. I would say from that era him, daneyko, and maclean were my favorite players.

I always played goalie as a kid so its hard for me to remember who my favorite player was..I think it used to be Richer though. Aah memories. Now I'm thinking it was either between him or Zelepukin.

[Devs3cups]

My grand-father made a trip in the U.S and he bought me a Devils cap when I was 4. It was my first ever cap, so that is how I started to cheer for the Devils when I got older.