Taking the temperature

[Since1982-83]

Yes, been around a long time...I have frequented this board for a while now, but only recently become a member.  The welcomes have been more than appreciated.

If some of you don't mind, as I get to know the board a bit better, I would appreciate it if some of you (all of you?) could let me know in this thread how long you have been passionate and dedicated Devils fans?  By that, I'll qualify it to mean, how long would you consider yourself a fan of the franchise, to the point where you knew everything that was going on, you followed the team daily...what year would you consider that to be where you became a no-doubt about it bonafide Devils fan?  Point of reference would be appreciated.  Thank you all.

P.S. GO SENS GO!

Edited April 26, 2017 by Since1982-83

[T0asterleav1ns]

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....

[sundstrom]

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.

[Nicomo]

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. 

[mfitz804]

3 hours ago, Toasterleavins said:

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.

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

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

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. 

[MadDog2020]

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

 

[RunninWithTheDevil]

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

[vadvlfan]

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. 

[moustic]

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 ! ; ) 

Edited April 27, 2017 by moustic

[Daniel]

'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.

[John Wensink]

I am an original fan. I was 13 when they announced the team was coming here and that's all it took. I loved the idea of having a team of our own here in NJ.

My father had shared season tickets for the first two years. I have no idea how many games I've gone too. The Devs got me playing hockey too. 

THIS IS TEAM.

 

 

Edited April 27, 2017 by John Wensink

[redruM]

I remember when the announced the team was moving here, and I remember voting on the name of the team, every day I'd cut out the ballot in the press and mail it in, so I guess that puts me as a fan since '81?

[Jersey Sure]

14 minutes ago, redruM said:

I remember when the announced the team was moving here, and I remember voting on the name of the team, every day I'd cut out the ballot in the press and mail it in, so I guess that puts me as a fan since '81?

Ha.  I remember the vote and when they said the team's name was the Devils the reaction from the Archdiocese was not good at all   And when they gave the explanation of the whole legend of the Jersey Devil I remember saying, " I've never heard about that anywhere till now. "

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

1 hour ago, John Wensink said:

I am an original fan. I was 13 when they announced the team was coming here and that's all it took. I loved the idea of having a team of our own here in NJ.

My father had shared season tickets for the first two years. I have no idea how many games I've gone too. The Devs got me playing hockey too. 

THIS IS TEAM.

For Christmas 1997, my dad bought tickets for me, my bro (a Ranger fan) and himself, for a Devils-Rangers game to be played on 3/7/1998 (I only know the exact date because I just looked it up)...I don't know where my dad bought them, but the ticket "package" also included a pre-game buffet at Hooter's (or someplace like it...that I'm not 100% sure of).  I had on my first purchased authentic jersey (a white #93 Gilmour) and my bro had on a blank white replica Rangers jersey (I had bought both jerseys after me and my bro had gone to the Garden and watched the Devils win...he had bought the tix and we went to Cosby's afterwards, which was just outside the arena at that time and sold some sweet jerseys...saw that Gilmour hanging there and just had to snag it, though that was a serious expense for me at the time). 

Anyway, the Devils won the game 6-3, in part due to three power play goals that took the Devils less than a minute (or so it seemed) of combined power play time to score...the first two were scored within 10 seconds or so of their respective power plays.  There were a ton of Devils fans in our section (one of the corners), and they really let my bro have it...it was actually quite funny...not for my dad though, who said he would never ever go to another hockey game after that.  He said he was "appalled" by the way everyone was acting (and my dad isn't usually that prudish).  My bro was OK and took the ribbings in stride...he had some funny back-and-forth with a few Devils fans...nothing that ever escalated.  Even though it was my flesh-and-blood, I can never get too broken up about ANY Ranger fans taking some abuse from us...especially since they often come into our building and give it to us, while too many of us just sit there and take it. 

Edited April 27, 2017 by Colorado Rockies 1976

[NJDfan1711]

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"

 

[mfitz804]

I'll list the factors that made me a Devils fan:

1. Free tickets. My friend's mom worked for a company that had season tickets and would get the extras for at times. 10 rows behind the home goal. Caught a puck in those seats in 1992 (still have it in my office with my ticket stub, which had a face value of a whopping $30.00, "tax included"). 

2. In addition to free tickets, it was WAY easier to convince one of our parents to drive us to the Meadowlands than to get to MSG. I remember more than once a parent actually waiting the length of the game out in the car in the parking lot. I also remember buying a cheap upper level seat and sneaking an extra person into the good seats (two go in, one goes out with both ticket stubs, two come back in). 

3. I was a rock music fan from a very young age. Team called the Devils?? Sign me right the fvck up!!

Was it hard to be a Devils fan in the late 80's/early 90's. I would say a little in my community. While there were obviously many more Rangers fans than Devils fans, the majority of people didn't care about hockey at all. I didn't fully appreciate as a 10-11 year old in 1986 that the team had only been there 4 years and that I was really in on the ground floor of something that would later turn out to be so great!!

I was not happy when the team moved from the home I had always known at the Meadowlands to Newark. After all, who wants to go to Newark. I'll tell you who, ME. Its so much easier to get to and so much nicer of an experience at The Rock, I wouldn't move back for anything. 

Wouldn't change a thing about my entire Devils experience, actually. Except maybe the win/loss record on a bunch of seasons. 

 

Edited April 27, 2017 by mfitz804

[Since1982-83]

Really awesome responses, love the origination of how you all came to become Devils Advocates.  It is amazing to me that this franchise just completed their 34th NHL season...it really feels like yesterday when I started attending games during that very first year.  What's exciting now is that the Devils are a multi-generational fan base now, we have built up 'depth' within our fan base over the years.

Keep the great stories of how you became a Devils fan coming.

[Weekes Head]

1994. I was 9 and impressionable. I never heard of hockey before and just moved to a new town and my "best friend" (see: the kid I traded lunch snacks with and would ocassionally play video games with after school) was a Devils fan so by default I decided I was a Devils fan too. Only problem was I had no clue what hockey was. So...I begged my mom for a Devils hat and jersey, would run to get the Record every morning and read the sports highlights to see how the Devils did, and then *finally* for my birthday got tickets  to see a Devils game live. Funny part was, I still never really watched a game on TV until that point. Once the puck dropped though, I was HOOKED. Completely hooked.

I was devastated when they came up short in '94 but then we all know what happened the next year...lol. That summer I again begged my mom to take me to see my favorite Devil, Claude Lemieux, at the Menlo Park mall. I was gutted when the line was so badly wrapped around the mall that we never got a chance to meet him.

Alas, I have so many wonderful memories with this team and I am truly blessed that I got to grow up in an era where the team was so successful. These last few years have been hard but nothing will ever keep me away from this team and this sport. The Devils truly were my whole childhood and adolescence. Heck...I still have that hat my mom got me back in '94.