44 replies to this topic

[RunninWithTheDevil]

I think the first devil I actually met was patty. I was about 9 or 10 with my family at south mountain arena. Patty was leaving in his car and he actually stopped to sign and take a few pictures with us. such a cool guy. best devil I ever met was kenny daneyko. I've talked to him so many times I think he must recognize me by now.

[estreetcrew3]

First Devil I met was Sean Burke in 89 at Brick Ice Palace. He came to sign autos and he is the reason im a Devils fan.

There is too many devils too list as a a Best Devil.

I do have to say best non-Devil player has to be Bernie Parent. He was a great guy to talk to and i 'd say he was more siked to meet me. Then he was the one who said lets take a picture. Never met someone so happy to meet a fan of a rival team.

[GA Devil]

i went to a martin brodeur autograph session when i was a kid in 1994. still have the 8x10 to this day. prized possession.

the best devil i met was scott clemmensen. most of you know the whole story, but for those who dont, the gist of it is that i had gone to a road game with some buddies in pittsburgh and happened to sit right behind clemmensen for the game (at mellon the backup goalies didnt fit on the bench so they had to sit elsewhere.) we noticed clemmy so we started chanting his name for fun and he turned around and gave a hat tip to us. pretty neat. the devils ended up storming back from being down 2-0 and won 3-2 in overtime -- when elias scored in OT, clemmy turned around and pointed to us and gave a thumbs up with this huge smile on his face. it was awesome.

fast forward a couple weeks and we were at a home devils game. i happened to have the ticket stub on me from that pens game so i thought of staying after to get the ticket signed as a cool souvenir. waited forever and no clemmy. my buddies were at the other side trying to meet parise and all the big boys so i was off by myself. after a half hour or so went by, i decided to go meet back up with my friends. as i was walking back, i noticed a group of suits emerge from the front of the caa. sure enough, it was clemmensen AND his entire family. he noticed that i was wearing a clemmensen jersey and shouted over to me "hey, i'll be right over -- let me just say goodbye to my family!" i waited for a minute or two and a man ended up approaching me. he kind of startled me, actually, because i'm pretty sure i had my back turned...or something. i dont remember. it's been a few years. anyway, he says to me "so, youre a fan of my son?" it was clemmensen's DAD lol. i ended up having a 15 minute conversation with his dad haha. about 10 min into the convo, scott and his mom came over and joined the convo. we talked about everything -- the idea of moving on and finding a new club where he'd play more, how he felt about never getting to play much with new jersey, etc etc. he was so honest with his answers too, it was pretty sweet. clemmy signed my ticket and said it was really awesome to see some familiar faces in the crowd that day in pittsburgh. pretty neat that he remembered and all. he also signed my jersey without me even asking haha. i think he was just shocked that someone had his number. (mind you, this was pre-marty injury so clemmy was riding the bench 35893 games a year.) we said our goodbyes and as i was about to leave, clemmy's dad grabbed my hand and gave me a firm handshake and said "it was a pleasure meeting my son's number one fan. it really means a lot to us."

it was seriously the coolest experience i've ever had with this team. i'll never forget it. such a great guy and such a great family.

Awesome story. I have a similar story, although not nearly as spectacular. A few years ago (2005?) I went to one of those rookie tournaments. This was held at the Sharks' practice rink and got to watch unproven rookies like Setoguchi, Getzlaf, Perry, Ryan, and Glencross play for the first time. I'm sitting next to an older couple in the stands who turn out to be the parents of Shay and Logan Stephenson. It was quite the learning experience in regards to the process (for some) to get to the NHL. Really nice people.

First Devil - Hector Marini

Alas, one of the Devils' first all-stars. Isn't he deceased or greatly debilitated now? I forget.

Oh yeah, first: Bob Lorimer

[devlman]

i went to a martin brodeur autograph session when i was a kid in 1994. still have the 8x10 to this day. prized possession.

the best devil i met was scott clemmensen. most of you know the whole story, but for those who dont, the gist of it is that i had gone to a road game with some buddies in pittsburgh and happened to sit right behind clemmensen for the game (at mellon the backup goalies didnt fit on the bench so they had to sit elsewhere.) we noticed clemmy so we started chanting his name for fun and he turned around and gave a hat tip to us. pretty neat. the devils ended up storming back from being down 2-0 and won 3-2 in overtime -- when elias scored in OT, clemmy turned around and pointed to us and gave a thumbs up with this huge smile on his face. it was awesome.

fast forward a couple weeks and we were at a home devils game. i happened to have the ticket stub on me from that pens game so i thought of staying after to get the ticket signed as a cool souvenir. waited forever and no clemmy. my buddies were at the other side trying to meet parise and all the big boys so i was off by myself. after a half hour or so went by, i decided to go meet back up with my friends. as i was walking back, i noticed a group of suits emerge from the front of the caa. sure enough, it was clemmensen AND his entire family. he noticed that i was wearing a clemmensen jersey and shouted over to me "hey, i'll be right over -- let me just say goodbye to my family!" i waited for a minute or two and a man ended up approaching me. he kind of startled me, actually, because i'm pretty sure i had my back turned...or something. i dont remember. it's been a few years. anyway, he says to me "so, youre a fan of my son?" it was clemmensen's DAD lol. i ended up having a 15 minute conversation with his dad haha. about 10 min into the convo, scott and his mom came over and joined the convo. we talked about everything -- the idea of moving on and finding a new club where he'd play more, how he felt about never getting to play much with new jersey, etc etc. he was so honest with his answers too, it was pretty sweet. clemmy signed my ticket and said it was really awesome to see some familiar faces in the crowd that day in pittsburgh. pretty neat that he remembered and all. he also signed my jersey without me even asking haha. i think he was just shocked that someone had his number. (mind you, this was pre-marty injury so clemmy was riding the bench 35893 games a year.) we said our goodbyes and as i was about to leave, clemmy's dad grabbed my hand and gave me a firm handshake and said "it was a pleasure meeting my son's number one fan. it really means a lot to us."

it was seriously the coolest experience i've ever had with this team. i'll never forget it. such a great guy and such a great family.

Thats a great story

[cubanjd305]

I live in a far away land so...

Met first (together): Zajac, Elias, Parise, Fraser.

Best was Parise. Very cool guy, chatted with me for a while, that day is definitely stored in my memory bank

[NYCdevil]

first: sergei brylin in 96-97' approx.
best: kovy (even though he was a little cold)
worst: Stephane Richer, met him at a game when he was a healthy scratch i think, he didn't want to sign an autograph until some drunk dude said something. i was probably about 8-9 yrs old.

met: brylin, gomez, richer, kovy, lemaire (first stint as coach), and lou in a restaurant. lou is awesome

[StarDew]

Alas, one of the Devils' first all-stars. Isn't he deceased or greatly debilitated now? I forget.

Oh yeah, first: Bob Lorimer

Marini retired in 1985 after an injury where he lost his right eye.


SPORTS PEOPLE
Marini Loses an Eye
Published: December 13, 1985

Hector Marini, the 27-year-old right wing who was the first Devils player to be selected to the National Hockey League All-Star Team, lost his left eye in surgery Tuesday at the Midwest Eye Institute at Indianapolis Methodist Hospital. The eye was stuck by a shot from a teammate of Marini's as they played Dec. 5 for the Fort Wayne Komets, a Devils farm team in the International Hockey League, against the Indianapolis Checkers. The team physician for the Checkers, Dr. Joseph Randolph, said Dr. Stephen Johnson removed the eye because Marini had lost all sight in it.

Source

btw I forgot to name Best Devil. Anyone who knows me knows my choice would always be Timex.

Edited by StarDew, 22 October 2010 - 06:51 PM.

[ice dog]

met quite a few back in the day since every so often we would check out some practices at the SMA.
Dave Maley was really cool, remember talking to him about some of his fights...LoL!

[The Rock 07]

First: Zach Parise at the Open House when the arena opened.
Best: Definitely Cam Janssen the same day. Just an awesome guy.

[Don]

Well, I haven't met many, but I was once catching autographs after a practice and Marty was coming out. There was a family there... father, 7 year old son, 5 year old daughter.

Father and son were ecstatic about getting their hats and jersey's autographed and chatting with Brodeur. The daughter got her stuff signed too, while the father and son continued to talk to Marty. The daughter then piped up and said "Hey! Dad! You said we'd just get the guy to sign our stuff and we'd go for ice cream!" Brodeur said something along the lines of "I may be a half decent goaltender, but there's no way that I can trump ice cream." He then asked the girl what flavour she was gonna get... So even though the kid kinda dissed him, he was jovial about it and really, really good with the kids.

[MantaRay]

It's Saturday, so if I time it right, I can annoy Kovalchuk again...pre-game.

[ClarkyDano23]

It's Saturday, so if I time it right, I can annoy Kovalchuk again...pre-game.

Have we found Johnny Mac's reason?

[Daniel]

Actually got to meet Johnny Mac when I was something like 12 years old (19 years ago) when he came to sign autographs and answer questions at Taylor Park in Millburn. I asked him if believed the Penguins dumped the last few games to draft Mario. Unsurprisingly, he dodged the question, and just said the Devils got a good player in Kirk Muller with the next pick.

[losdiablos103]

First- Dano at some event back in like 97.

Best- Gio.

[Oldtimer]

First Devil I met was Craig Billington - autographed my Devils painter cap that was a give-away that game as well as my program.  

Best - far too many to list.

[jonnyd91]

First and best Jim Dowd in 1996. He actually came to one of my hockey clinics in Wall. We all got to skate with him and he ran some drills for us. It was pretty cool.

[GoArmySports]

First Devil: Lou Lamoriello

I met him at the Johhny Mac press conference. He motioned for me and my friend Greg to come over to talk to him. I also got to eat cookies and drink soda with him. Great Guy!

First Devil Player: Patrick Elias

Best Devil Met: Andy Greene

He liked me because we talked about college football instead of me asking him for an autograph or picture or something.

[Quinn01]

Well, I haven't met many, but I was once catching autographs after a practice and Marty was coming out. There was a family there... father, 7 year old son, 5 year old daughter.

Father and son were ecstatic about getting their hats and jersey's autographed and chatting with Brodeur. The daughter got her stuff signed too, while the father and son continued to talk to Marty. The daughter then piped up and said "Hey! Dad! You said we'd just get the guy to sign our stuff and we'd go for ice cream!" Brodeur said something along the lines of "I may be a half decent goaltender, but there's no way that I can trump ice cream." He then asked the girl what flavour she was gonna get... So even though the kid kinda dissed him, he was jovial about it and really, really good with the kids.

I met Marty for the first time last week at his signing in NY. He has been an idol of mine since I was atleast 10 or so. I didnt think he would be such a nice guy, most people in his position are told every day they are god so they start to believe it themselves, but he is an acception. He was such a nice dude. I asked to take a picture with him and he scooted his chair back real fast and said sure and invited me behind the table with him. I told him I was Canadian and he asked me from where. Of course it was a signing so it was a quick in and out conversation but still great none the less.

[Devs1965]

First: Was Dano Met him at Bella Note (his old Restaraunt) busy but still had time to chat.

Best: Same night Randy Mckay had a couple of drinks with him at the bar in the restaraunt, real down to earth.

Worst: Marty, 2 years ago after a game here in FL vs the Panthers.. They had lost and he was in net so I will give him a pass at least he signed a puck for me!

But Randy was and Dano were years back, they were a lot of fun to talk to!

[StarDew]

I forgot to add this. Yes, Timex is my favorite Devil of all time and will continue to be my favorite Devil of all time. I did meet Mike Peluso after the opening game of the 95-96 season on Saturday, October 7 at a bar. He was a great guy to chat with and he autographed my ticket stub. We beat the Florida Panthers that day after raising our first SC banner. I still have the ticket stub in wallet.