Category Archives: Fan Fest
Stanley Cup Playoffs – Game #3 Preview – Florida Panthers vs. New Jersey Devils
Stanley Cup Playoffs
New Jersey Devils vs. Florida Panthers
7:00 PM E.T.
TV: MSG Plus (HD), NHLN-US, TSN, RDS, SUN (HD)
Radio: Bloomberg 1130 AM or SiriusXM 92
With the best of 7 series tied 1-1, the Devils will host their first playoff game in over two years tonight as they take on the Florida Panthers in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Quarter Finals. To say fans are ecstatic about this game is an understatement. Forums have been blowing up, Facebook and Twitter are going crazy, and at 7pm tonight, chaos will consume the Prudential Center in Newark in the form of 17,625 red, swinging towels! If you don’t already have tickets, you should move quickly because once the puck drops, this game will be sold out and you don’t want to be on the outside looking in.
For those of you attending the game tonight, there’s a Fan Fest outside Championship Plaza that begins at 5pm. Once inside, the Devils will be handing out Red Rally Towels and noisemakers, but feel free to bring your own!
Second Annual Devils Family BBQ and Fan Fest
Classic barbecue food, music, games for the kids and a chance to chat with your favorite New Jersey Devils – I’d say that’s a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon. This past weekend the Devils hosted their second annual Devils Family BBQ and Fan Fest at the Prudential Center. It’s one of the cool events season ticket holders get to be a part of and a great way to kick off the season.
Anxious fans lined up outside of The Rock waiting to get in and meet their favorite players. They opened up the main concourse of the Prudential Center and let the fans roam. Lunch was served in the Fire & Ice Lounges. If you were lucky you caught Zach Parise behind the counter suited up to serve with an apron and chef hat. Rumor has it that Ilya Kovalchuk was handing out cookies. Bryce Salvador was taking care of the sodas with Nick Palmieri and Andy Greene.
There was plenty for the younger kids to do between shooting pucks into inflatable nets, hanging out with NJ and dancing with the Devils Dancers. All the players were happy to take pictures, share stories and even play a few rounds of floor hockey with the kids (and some of the adult fans, too). Parise and David Steckel played a couple games of hockey, followed by another game around the corner with Jacob Josefson, Mattias Tedenby, Alexander Urbom and Henrik Tallinder – only a few men short of a Swedish National team. Dainius Zubrus and NJ were hanging around the inflatable goalie nets watching our youngest Devils Army members practicing their slap shots.
Lines formed for both our veteran players and new additions to the team. Cam Janssen and Adam Larsson were pretty popular, as were Martin Brodeur and Patrick Elias of course. Even Lou Lamoriello and our new coach, Peter DeBoer, made appearances on the concourse. Every where you looked you saw a Devil in their jersey. It was surreal to see them on the concourse and to be honest, kind of weird. You learn a few things about the guys being so close. Did you know that Janssen loves to dance in place? David Clarkson seems tough on the ice but his face lights up when you mention his little girl (who will not be a hockey player). Clarkson is also a huge Jets fan and has a helmet signed by the team. Tallinder is a bit of a goofball, he was caught sneaking into pictures with other players and teasing Tedenby and Josefson when they lost their hockey game. Oh, and Rod Pelley has no front teeth – but you’ve probably noticed that before.
It’s great getting a chance to talk to the players and see them off the ice. Everyone had a great time and made sure to wish their favorite guys good luck during the season. There was tons to do and lots to see. Check out more photos from the BBQ on the Devils Generals Flickr page. Let us know if you find your face!
2011 NHL Entry Draft Party at The Rock
It’s that time of year. The 2011 NHL Entry Draft is just around the corner and with the New Jersey Devils having 4th pick, it’s going to be a pretty exciting one to watch! Every year the Prudential Center hosts an NHL Draft party for the fans to come in and watch the picks live. There are games and activities for the little kids and a chance for the big kids to get their hands on some hockey equipment. Think Fan Fest, but better! You should also keep an eye out for a few Devils Alumni.
The first round of the draft starts at 7PM at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. Our party starts at 5PM and will be held outside on Mulberry Street as well as inside the Amerihealth Pavilion at the Prudential Center on the night of the draft, Friday, June 24th. Head over to NewJerseyDevils.com to get your free tickets (check over on the right hand side).
In the meantime, check out a couple of the top prospects, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Adam Larsson. Who do you think we should aim for?
See you on draft day!
Nordiques Nation invades The Rock!
Nordiques Nation
The Nordiques Nation was in attendance for the Devils last game of the season on Sunday against Boston, all 2,000 of them with their blue shirts, face paint, and resident sasquatch. They took up a few sections in the upper level and were scattered through each section of Prudential, chanting and cheering on the Devils… and The Nordiques Nation, of course.
Their goal is to bring it to the attention of the NHL that they want a team back in Quebec. It’s been 16 years without a team after the Quebec Nordiques moved and became the Colorado Avalanche in 1995. Each period, the Nordiques would start a countdown to the 16 minute mark and make noise for the next 30 seconds of play to mark the importance of 16. They were loud the entire game, started a pretty successful wave throughout the arena and were very organized! Chico made a few comments about the Nordiques not just being a haphazard group, “they have leaders!” (I know this because I watched the replay of the game later that night.. it’s hard to say goodbye!)
In the last few minutes of the game, the Nordiques Nation left their upper level seats to invade the lower half. Lines of blue filled the aisles of the lower level of the Prudential Center and the rest of the arena in red gave the Devils a standing ovation for the last minute of play as they won 3-2. It was a great game to finish the season. Everyone was happy, light-hearted and there to celebrate the team and its amazing run.
After the post game interview, I lingered in my seat for a few more minutes and got a little sentimental! It’s hard to think I wouldn’t be sitting in seat 10 for another few months – September can’t come fast enough.
Nordiques Nation
Devils Army Rises Up
We Earned It
We have had a pretty crazy season. We picked up a great player in Kovalchuk, lost our star Parise to a knee injury, the return of Jaque Lemaire, saw Hedberg make incredible saves while Marty wasn’t looking to hot, had a terrible first half and are finishing it up on fire – but are missing the play offs for the first time since 1996! That’s a whole lot for a fan to handle. But I have to say, we handled it pretty well!
We never give up. We rocked our red, defended our boys and always knew that we had what it took to make a great team. We are all proud of the Devils and proud to be members of the Devils Army. We have a whole section, the NJ Devils Supporters Section, dedicated to those fans who like to be heard and are offering season tickets to join them at every game. We have even taken our fan community to another level with the launch of Mission Control and the Devils Army Generals earlier this year, bringing the fans in closer to the organization instead of leaving them on the concourse.
We are the best fans and the team knows it! They mention how great it is to hear us support them and how much it means to them while they’re on the ice. The Devils employees put together a LIPDUB in honor of us. The annual Fan Appreciation Day is coming up, landing on our last game of the season on April 10th and I think it is well deserved! In addition to the normal Fan Fest with music, food and games, Sunday the fans will have the chance to win great prizes and receive a team poster on their way out.
This is a great team to be a fan of. With 1,000 first time season ticket holders signing up for next season, it’s obvious that people can not get enough of Devils hockey! The Devils Army is growing and next year is our year.
The Rock
Fun For All at Fan Fest
Welcome to Championship Plaza
Saturday was one of the first nice days of Spring and it made for a great Fan Fest! Fans came out to enjoy live music, food, games and great photo opps with NJ and the Devils Army rig. There was a great crowd there, even the Montreal Canadian fans were out. Everyone, both young and not-so-young, loved taking shots at the nets and playing small pick-up games of hockey in the middle of Championship Plaza.
This Fan Fest had a unique addition, “The Tent,” where Devils fans got the opportunity to buy some pieces of Devils history. They had rare memorabilia, discounted team merchandise and team relics that came straight from the teams storage vault. Printed towels, pucks, bobble heads and even a few autographed sticks were up for grabs. These items have never been offered to the public, so if you noticed a low attendance of Devils fans out in Championship Plaza, it’s because they were all in “The Tent”!
Another Fan Fest is planned for Sunday, April 10th before our last game of the season. Game time is at 3PM so meet us out in Championship Plaza at 12:30PM to celebrate the incredible season with the rest of the Devils Army!
Playing at Fan Fest
Hockey Statue in Championship Plaza
Devils Army Rig
