Leaderboard

Started following in '83-'84 (mostly through the Star Ledger sports section), but didn't really get to watch them on TV regularly until '87-'88...that's when my dad finally caved and subscribed to SportsChannel. I also got my license that year, so I started driving myself to games (sometime with others, sometimes alone)...my parents weren't thrilled with the idea at first, but once I came back alive from the first time, they were usually OK with me going. I went to Montclair State College starting in the fall of 1998, and once I realized how close I was to BBA, I started going to games like crazy...from '88-'89 to '11-'12, I went to an absolute ton of games...the best of which was being there for the 1995 Cup win, on my 25th birthday, in my brand-new white Devils jersey (the first one I ever owned...I couldn't afford one before then, and a girlfriend had bought it for me just before the game...I had to run to her place in Jersey City to pick it up, then had to bolt to the game in time for some tailgating...was a brilliantly beautiful but windy summer day). Haven't been able to go as much in recent years because my daughter has so many after-school activities, so lots of running around...but we watch a lot of games in my basement (I'll get some pics up of it...I already have some up here, but I've since added and tweaked...suffice it to say the Devils are VERY well represented down there). My daughter wants to go to some games next year, so I will definitely make that happen.

This describes so many games I attended at the old building. Such memories. Thanks for sharing.

I started following them in 2000. That's the year we got the Blue Jackets here in Ohio and when I started to watch a lot of NHL hockey. We've always had minor league teams (AHL, ECHL, etc), but when Columbus got a team I had somewhere close I could see NHL games. I couldn't really get into the Jackets (they had no star players, their jerseys were awful, they were in the west) so I started following the Devils. Mainly because of Brodeur and Stevens, but I like everything about them honestly.

89-90 for me. my younger brother actually got into them from a friend and would watch sportschannel and i caught the bug. drawn to patrik sundstrom from the start (i always like the "good player" but never the "best player", hence sundstrom over maclean or muller and elias over stevens and neidermayer and marty before elias was really elias. STH since i graduated from college in 98. best/worst story - i passed on going to game 4 in '95 vs wings to go to Phish in philly instead. Where I got busted w/ a beer underage! I was sure the Devils wouldn't sweep. of course, i got to see them raise it in '03 so I made up for it. and i was at game 7 in philly in '00 ECF which might be my favorite live sporting event I've ever attended because of how jubilant yet terrified i was.

I follow Devs hockey since just after the Olympics in Nagano (1998) ... I pick up the team with the most player i enjoy watching during the Olympics + the one with the cool devilish logo ; ) Since that day, die-Hard french fan that got only this forum to be sure to have some news and way to keep the flame. I start listening to webradio games very late the night (i win plenty "dedication to the team" awards because of that back in the time ; ) )Really often, falling asleep around 3h in the nightbut hey ! First in person game was in Montreal for the last Marty season (and i could see Jagr, Elias & Marty ! ). I did Paris-Montreal in January just for that. And i didn't even win a dedication to the team award that years ! What a disgrace ! ; )

I'll always say that it was a risk that Shero absolutely had to take that could still ultimately pay off in favor of the Devils, but I'll always say that that deal was never the no-brainer from Day 1 automatic win for the Devils that many made it out to be. Larsson has done a good job for the Oilers.

First in-person game was in 96 as a 6 year old and haven't looked back since, Glad theres some new blood making some interesting topics in the slow offseason, when (for 5 years straight) its mostly dead here save for playoff and draft talk and people bitching at each other over opinions

Saw my first game in 1985 when I was six years old, and I was hooked. I'm 38 now and I've lived and died with the franchise through every up and down for the last 32 years. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Not me. Black as the dominant color of a given jersey feels very played out to me. I don't ever want to see the red relegated to secondary status. I still love the black and red as is, but have always been open to the concept I discussed previously (some trim styling similar to the old red and greens, or finding some way to work a little green into the current design).

1994 for me, just in time to watch us lose to the Rangers in game 7 ot Stupid *&(%(&#(%$&#$ing crybaby messyface and matteu . I remember that night rushing home from a ski trip, my dad picking up me up and letting me know the Devils had tied it with like 7? seconds left. We got home just in time to watch them lose. The following year I got Sportschannel and could finally watch regularly... was hooked ever since. I also ended up seeing them win the cup the following year... picked game 4 against Detroit because it was a Saturday, never thinking we would be sweeping them. Some guy at the game offered us 500 dollars a piece for the 2 tickets my dad and I had gotten. Face value was around 100 a ticket... my dad turned to me and said "if you want to take the money we can, and you can keep the money for your ticket..." 500 dollars is awful tempting to a 15 year old kid, but I said no thank god, and we got to see them lift the cup. Greatest sports experience in my life... still remember everyone beeping their horns to "lets go devils" in the parking lot for like 2 hours after we won, continental was literally shaking... and slamming the walkway over the highway to lets go devils on our way to our cars, and worrying about it collapsing... lol. If the devils had lost that game though id still be kicking myself for not taking the 500....

I like the jersey's as they are... no changes needed

pfft. Don't you know Reyes only gets hurt when he's playing well? Believe me once he has a nice little 8-10 game hitting streak with a bunch of SB's he'll pull up lame trying to beat out a grounder and he'll be gone for a month too.

Here's a little timeline of my love for hockey and the Devils in particular: - Parents first took me ice skating when I was 3 years old - Started following and taking an interest in the sport and the NHL around age 5 - I would get up in the mornings, both during school days and on weekends, and watch highlights from the night before. Despite growing up on Long Island, my Grandmother living 2 minutes from the Coliseum in Uniondale, and my dad going to many of the Islanders iconic playoff games, most of the highlights I watched were from the Devils, and I just became a fan of them by chance - Attended what I can remember was my first ever NHL game, between the Islanders and Capitals in 1993 - the one where Dale Hunter cheap-shotted Pierre Turgeon - Also started playing in my first ever roller hockey league in 1993. By sheer coincidence, I was on the Devils - Started collecting memorabilia, attending games, and following the team ever since. Nowadays, people that don't know me very well and just as a casual acquaintance still ask and think I'm from Jersey because of my love for the Devils. I usually have to remind them that I'm actually from NY and developed a love for the Devils because of the "tri-state area"

'87-88 season for me when I was 9 years old. My parents weren't really sports fans at the time, so I kind of discovered it myself. Before then I actually didn't even know there was a hockey team in NJ. Sportschannel was not part of the basic cable package where we lived, but MSG -- or whoever had Rangers games at that time -- was, so occasionally I would watch Ranger games but didn't really have any idea what was going on. (For a little while I though a powerplay had something to do with stopping the clock, believe it or not). Tells you something about how terrible marketing for the franchise was back then. So someone at school was wearing a Devils t-shirt and I discovered there was a Jersey team and they were doing well that year. I still couldn't watch the games for the most part, but followed them in the paper and on the recaps on the local news. Begged my parents to get Sportschannel the next year, which they did. A lot of those early seasons are still pretty hazy to me memory-wise.

Or what Nicomo said? That's definitely brutal, but I don't think it'll be career ending. I have a feeling he could be back at the start of the regular season next year.

I've been a Devils fan hard core since early nineties. (closet fan before) growing up in NJ was so proud to have a pro team of any kind, let alone my state. Visiting Denver, I went to a few games at McNichols arena to see "Rocky Hockeys'. Lived in Va. since '85, only hockey was Caps back in the day.

Doc Emrick almost looks like a little like Luke Wilson in that pic, heh heh. Larry Brooks looks like he was a lot less of a nudge back then...hard to believe these guys were that young once. I have an original '74-'75 KC Scouts media guide and a couple of Rockies media guides...one of them was for the '81-'82 season...I know this because it came after Merlin Malinowski's breakout season, where he scored 25 goals and added 37 assists in 69 games...at the time, everyone in Colorado was hoping that would just be the beginning, but he quickly faded, was traded to Hartford in '82-'83 despite getting off to a nice start with the Devils through five games, and played so poorly for the Whalers that they released him at the end of the season, and his NHL career was kaput, though he was only 24 years old, and had some skills. I forget what year the other Rockies media guide was from. I gotta dig this sh!t up. Speaking of the oldern-day time stuff...here's a great photo of Doug Favell in a Scouts/Rockies "hybrid" jersey. Apparently when the team first moved from KC to Colorado, the new Rockies jerseys didn't arrive in time...so the Scouts logo were hastily ripped off the old jerseys and replaced with Rockies logos. It actually doesn't look too bad, but I prefer the "cleaner" look of the actual Rockies jerseys...especially when they stopped screen-printing the logo and numbers onto the jerseys...I don't think they started going with actual patches and twill until their final season in Colorado, but resident jersey expert DM84 (who has an insane jersey collection that's always evolving) would know the answer to that one better than me.

Some more off season musings...

From my 1982-83 Devils inaugural yearbook...Hirsch & Shero pictured (got their autographs too) as well as broadcast information from that very first year.

I wouldn't have any issue with a slight modification to the suit, however, anything drastic, anything outlandish that changes the 'feel' of Devils hockey will be a drastic marketing mistake. For those not concerned with our logo and overall look, you should be, this is our heritage, it's a legacy thing, and it speaks to all of those who have dropped sweat, blood, and tears on the ice over all the years this organization has become one of the most respected in all the NHL. Our logo, although not as long tenured as an Original Six look, has not only stood the test of time since the 82-83 season, but in addition, it has become an iconic and immediately recognized marking within all sports circles. If they want to change the striping pattern or redesign the shoulder areas, I'm okay with that - but DO NOT mess with the logo or make the revisions something that disrespects the tradition of our franchise. The ONLY massive makeover that I would sign on for would be a return to our original colors because I LOVED that look...the red and green looked terrific and on the rare occasions they wear them now they look even better somehow. I would also approve it if they would if they would please ditch the white helmets for road games and switch over to red helmets with the white jersey top. Lastly, thanks to those with a hospitable welcome to the board...and can we please get a new public address announcer at The Rock? Oh for the days of the great Bob Arsena.

When they announced the color change, I had an idea for a jersey using that exact logo, and using this exact color scheme, later (almost) used by the Albany River Rats. Imagine my surprise when both surfaced, in separate parts, several years later! My 15ish year old self had really cool tattoo-style Devil face shoulder patches. I couldn't find one that was similar to my idea online, but I found this one that I think looks just like Adam Henrique which is funny enough to post. it would be my new profile pic if it wasn't watermarked. 40 year old me thinks that NJ map patches would be cooler. I know a lot of people hate black jerseys for some weird reason, but this one would have been money in the bank IMHO.

Tim Murray= Dwight Schrute. I swear, if Dwight Schrute was a real person, Tim Murray would be his long lost Canadian brother. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I saw this on the Puck Daddy eulogy for the Hawks. I laughed. https://streamable.com/s/gqfbq/kebbcw