Once again, it's Lou Jersey

[Rock]

Once again, it's Lou Jersey

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/hockey/s...1p-347733c.html

BY DARREN (N)Єverson

DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER

Martin Brodeur is hoping to backstop Devils to first-ever playoff series win over rival Rangers.

In the nine long years since they last made the playoffs, the Rangers have tried everything to catch up to Lou Lamoriello's Devils. Mostly, they've tried with their checkbook.

They tried winning with offense, acquiring Pavel Bure. They tried duplicating the Devils' discipline, signing away Bobby Holik.

About the only thing they didn't do was the most obvious: land Lamoriello himself.

"By his attitude," Martin Brodeur said of the Devils' austere leader, "they probably were afraid to ask him."

The thought of Lamoriello running the Rangers is so foreign, Brodeur, a 14-year Devil, said it had never occurred to him. The Garden is big-city and big-money, full of PR distractions and corporate complications. Lamoriello is low-key and no-nonsense, an old-school hockey guy who still wears dress slacks on the ice at practice.

As the Devils and Rangers meet in the first round starting today, the upstart Blueshirts have finally forged a new identity, albeit only after the advent of the salary cap. As for the Devils, though, they haven't changed. Not even after Scott Stevens' retirement and Scott Niedermayer's departure.

Everything starts with Lamoriello, who - as CEO, president, GM and, temporarily, coach - is everything to the Devils.

The last of those titles has been on the forefront of observers' minds of late, as the Devils won their last 11 and stormed back to win the Atlantic Division title. Lamoriello has been getting mention as a Jack Adams coach of the year candidate.

His success (32-14-4) after Larry Robinson's stress-related resignation Dec. 19 has largely obscured the fact that he was partly responsible for Jersey's slow start. It was he who spent lots on, and ultimately got little out of, Alexander Mogilny, Dan McGillis and Vladimir Malakhov.

But it was also Lamoriello who, as coach, returned the Devils to their detail-oriented, fundamentally sound roots. He has done so despite never having coached since his tenure at Providence College (1968-83) - save for that one Devils playoff game in 1988, while Jim Schoenfeld was suspended for his "have another donut" episode with referee Don Koharski.

"You've got to give the man credit," Patrik Elias said. "He stepped into a position that he wasn't used to and hadn't been in in quite a while, at least not at this level.

"Everybody was a little afraid about what he was going to be like behind the bench, but he's been very positive all the time and actually a good influence on our game, no question."

This is the 19th season at the Meadowlands for Lamoriello, 63, whom the late former owner John McMullen took a chance on because he was tired of losing. Lamoriello's only hockey experience then was in college, and McMullen trusted him to run the organization.

One wonders why the once-wayward Rangers never did the same. In 2000 there was talk in the media that they should recruit him to replace the fired Neil Smith, but it ultimately was just talk.

"That just shows his commitment and his love for the state of New Jersey," said Scott Gomez, who also seemed befuddled at the concept of Lamoriello working for the enemy. "It's like, how come the Mets and Yankees don't ever trade together? It's a little too close to home."

Lamoriello's Devils have since gone on to win their third Stanley Cup. The Rangers hired Glen Sather, who just now has returned them to the playoffs.

"Again," Brodeur said with a laugh, "they went for the high-priced guy in Edmonton who won all of these Stanley Cups."

[NJDF]

"That just shows his commitment and his love for the state of New Jersey," said Scott Gomez, who also seemed befuddled at the concept of Lamoriello working for the enemy. "It's like, how come the Mets and Yankees don't ever trade together? It's a little too close to home."

"Lou Jersey"....I love it!!

GO DEVILS!!