Blog Archives
Food Around the Pru
Garlic fries with a tequila & tonic in the Goal Bar
It’s only May, but I already miss being at The Prudential Center with my friends, watching my favorite team take the ice. Silly as it sounds, thinking of hockey got me thinking of my game day rituals, which got me thinking about my favorite food and treats inside the Prudential Center. It also reminded me of some of the great places that surround The Rock that my friends and I would meet prior to or after games and hang out.
On game days, it’s hard for me to resist the BBQ pulled pork sandwich, which comes with fresh, home made chips, cole slaw and a pickle. It’s my absolute favorite thing to treat myself to at Prudential Center. As for places to hang out, I’ve occasionally met friends at the Edison Ale House, located just behind Championship Plaza. The last time I was there, I enjoyed a plate of their Chili Cheese Fries, which I definitely recommend sharing with a friend! The portion was gigantic (and delicious).
To spice things up and show the great variety surrounding our home arena, I asked my fellow Generals to share their favorite treats and meeting places, too. I’ve learned about a few new places from them that I think I have to go visit. This is what they had to say:
Read the rest of this entry
The “War to Restore NJ” Hockey Night in Morristown
Last weekend, the NJ Colonial Coaches hosted the NJ Devil Alumni at Mennen Arena for a benefit hockey game. The “War to Restore NJ, Hockey Night in Morristown” was the brain-child of Sue DeBoer, (Peter DeBoer’s wife) and the first time the NJ Colonial Coaches played the Devils alumni in a charity event. Monies were raised for local charities to assist those in need affected by Hurricane Sandy, including the Hurricane Sandy New Jersey Relief Fund founded by Mary Pat Christie. In addition to 100% of the proceeds going to charity, there was also a food drive for the Interfaith Food Pantry serving the Morris County Area.
Three Questions with Pierre McGuire
Back in December of 2011, I got the chance to chat with Ken Daneyko. The interview was interesting as I didn’t ask him the usual questions he gets as a former Stanley Cup Champion. There was no hockey involved in the questions, at all. I wanted to get him to open up so that Devils Army could get to know him better.
Earlier this week, NHL on NBC Analyst, and former NHL Head Coach, Pierre McGuire was at the AmeriHealth Pavilion to take part in a photo shoot for (201) Magazine. I got the chance to ask Pierre a few questions about what his last meal on Earth would be, what’s “now playing” on his iPod, and how he relaxes after a hard day.
If you can’t see the video above, you can watch it here.
This is Our Team, Our Town Devils Army
Photo Credit: New Jersey Devils
For the fifth time in franchise history the New Jersey Devils will be playing in the Stanley Cup Finals. I was fortunate enough to be at Game 7 of 2003 when the Devils won their most recent championship. I stood next to my Dad as the seconds ticked down and Gary Bettman walked out, grabbed Lord Stanley’s Cup and handed it off to Scott Stevens. If you ask me what my best Devils’ memory is, well without a doubt, it’s that game. Now, when you ask my father, he’s often quick to say watching me watching the Devils win the Cup. That always resonated with me.
Game Preview – Game 53: Your New Jersey Devils @ New York Rangers
New Jersey Devils (30-19-3, 63 points) vs New York Rangers (33-12-5, 71 points)
7:00 PM EST
TV: MSG+ 2
Radio: WFAN 660 AM
Matchup:
Tonight will be the third of six matchups between the Atlantic Division rivals, and the first of three to be played at Madison Square Garden. So far this season, the Devils and Rangers each have collected a win. The last game between the two was last Tuesday which saw the Devils tie the game in the closing seconds and take the win in a shootout.
Devils Looking For First Five-Game Winning Streak This Season:
The Devils find themselves 4-0-0 since the All-Star break and have tied their highest winning streak this season at four games. Three of the four wins have come across Atlantic Division rivals who are above the Devils in the standings. The Devils have been on an offensive surge since the All-Star break outscoring their opponents 20-12. Ilya Kovalchuk, who was named this past week’s number two star throughout the NHL, has four goals and seven assists in the first four matchups of the unofficial second-half of the season.
Looking at upcoming games, the Devils really need to pull out wins if they wish to continue climbing the standings. Future games consist of: at Rangers, vs Blues, vs Panthers, vs Sabres, and vs Ducks. The toughest of the next few games will be the Rangers and the Blues, two of the top six teams in the entire league. Despite St. Louis not being in the same conference as the Devils, a win against them on Thursday will be great momentum to carry the Devils through the rest of the season.
In order to secure a “W” tonight, the Devils defense needs to pick up. The main problem lately for the D is not being able to clear rebounds from in front of the net. This has been a concern in the games against the Rangers last Tuesday, Montreal and Philadelphia. Three of the four Flyers goals came from not being able to clear a rebound from in front. The defense appeared better in Sunday’s game against Pittsburgh, but the Devils have to make sure that they don’t get too comfortable on this winning streak.
Projected Devils Lineup:
Parise (C) – Elias (A) – Kovalchuk (A)
Sykora – Zubrus- Clarkson
Ponikarovsky- Henrique- Bernier
Boulton – Josefson- Janssen
Greene- Fayne
Salvador- Volchenkov
Taormina – Foster
Brodeur
Hedberg
——————–
The Latest on the New York Rangers:
The Rangers are also coming off a big win against Philadelphia this past weekend. Sunday saw the Blue Shirts take a 5-2 win over their Winter Classic opponents. Star goaltender Henrik Lundqvist stopped 21 shots for his fourth straight win as the Rangers continue to show that they are a force to be reckoned with atop the standings.
The bright side for the Devils going into tonight’s game is the Rangers’ powerplay has only converted twice in its last 44 chances, and haven’t scored on a 5-on-4 situation in over a month.
Defenseman Steve Eminger (shoulder) could be medically cleared to play tonight. If he does, expect rookie Stu Bickel to lose his roster spot.
Projected Rangers Lineup:
Hagelin – Stepan – Gaborik
Dubinsky – Richards (A) – Callahan (C)
Fedotenko – Boyle - Prust
Rupp – Anisimov – Mitchell
McDonagh – Girardi
Del Zotto – Stralman
Staal (A) – Bickel
Lundqvist
Biron
———-
There will be a viewing party tonight at Texas-Arizona in Hoboken, NJ hosted by the Devils Army Generals. There will be trivia, giveaways, food & drink specials and more! Click here to visit the Facebook Event!
Follow the Devils Army Generals on Facebook and on Twitter for more in-depth coverage of Jersey’s Team.
State Of The Devils Army Generals – One Year
Mr. Vanderbeek, Mr. Lamoriello, Mr. Krezwick, members of the third floor, my fellow Generals.
Today, I have the honor (which I gave myself) of reporting to you on the State of the Generals.
It’s hard to believe that the Devils Generals program has been around for over a year now. It seems like it was just yesterday that we were all in a room, not quite sure of what we were doing there or what to expect from the awesome opportunity that was being given to us. As the Generals program was something no other sports franchise had done, we were all new to this. However, every person in that room was excited.
It was no surprise (okay, maybe it was a bit surprising) that the team, after a 9-22-5 start to last season, began a 22-5 run on the day our Generals Twitter account was created and finished the season 27-13. They were as excited about this as we were!
From the launch of Mission Control on February 16th of last year, right up to our latest giveaway on Twitter and everything we have done in between, it has all been a tremendous, and sometimes surprising, success.
My fellow Devils fans, I blog before you today to report that the state of our program is strong.
I’d like to briefly review our first year and then talk a little bit about what can be expected from us going forward.
As with any great, original idea, there have been some bumps in the road during our first year. We don’t always see eye to eye on every issue. We have seen some people go, and there have been some new people added.
What we all agree on is that we are all fans, and we want to be the voice of other fans who can’t be in Mission Control with us. We all bring the voice of the fan, as a whole, to the team.
Make no mistake, if you ever bring an idea to us, whether it’s through Twitter, Facebook, this blog, or in person, it will be brought to the team. We are always listening and are always looking for new ways to improve the fan experience.
Our first successful project was the start of the #Devils1stGoal guesses on Twitter (something I can proudly say I started… with a little help from the Islanders and their first goal guess idea).
Through the first goal guess contest on Twitter, we have gone from a handful of guesses a game to over 200 guesses for each game. The correct guessers have gone from receiving shoutouts, to getting some cool prizes, including game tickets!
We’ve sent prizes out to all corners of the US. It’s only a matter of time before we send out prizes to some members of the Devils Army overseas, fans that interact with us on a daily basis.
We have put together and hosted quite a few viewing parties throughout New Jersey during our first year, the latest one being at Simko’s Grill in Brielle last weekend. They have all been quite successful, with each one growing as we’ve gone along. Special guests have included Ken Daneyko, Jim Dowd, Grant Marshall and others.
We’ve had some great giveaways at these events and as they grow, so to will the giveaways, prizes, and guests.
Our next viewing party will take place on February 7th at Texas-Arizona in Hoboken. We then return to Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza in Edison on February 27th for our second viewing party at that location this season.
These viewing parties are only successful if fans attend and enjoy them. Everyone is welcome to attend any of the viewing parties and, as always, is free to suggest a location and bring ideas and suggestions to us.
This blog has grown tremendously since our first post. You can find game previews, recaps, player profiles, and stories on breaking news. We have conducted interviews with WFAN statistician JohnCarl Ziegler, the Zam Crew, the Diablos 122, Ken Daneyko and others. Oh, I almost forgot… there was also the time General Chrissy Baptista got to interview Zach Parise.
Our Devils Generals Facebook page has also grown quickly, with 618 likes as of today.
We have set up Satellite Mission Control at the Digital Zone behind section 17 at The Rock. At every home game, you can find a few of the Generals manning the Twitter and Facebook accounts from there. Anyone is welcome to come and see what we do at any time.
During our first year, we have been written about in ESPN, Huffington Post, ClickZ, Simply Zesty, NY Times, USA Today and many others. A recent article in the Sports Business Journal highlighted how Mission Control has brought in a new kind of revenue for the team.
Mission Control was also selected as a finalist for the PRWeek “Arts, Entertainment & Media Campaign of the Year” award.
Now, what we have planned going forward.
Besides our planned and yet-to-be-planned viewing parties (we’ll be setting up playoff ones, of course), our next big event is our road trip to Long Island. This will be the first time the Generals get a group of the Devils Army together for a road game. If it’s as successful as we think it will be (there are only a few tickets left!), then others will definitely be planned.
We have some other exclusive interviews lined up. As our JohnCarl Ziegler and Zam Crew interviews have shown, we’ll be bringing you some things you’re not likely to find anywhere else. We enjoy giving you a look at some of the people who may be overlooked, but make game day a great experience.
We will also be at the AHL All-Star weekend for some updates!
Being at the AHL All-Star game, along with bringing some of our viewing parties to south Jersey, are some of the ways the Generals are bringing an awareness to everything our state, along with our hockey team, has to offer.
The Generals come from all over the state (and some from out-of-state). While we are all New Jersey Devils fans and this program concentrates on the team and what we can do to bring all of the fans closer together, we’re also committed to highlighting the great things the organization does throughout New Jersey.
You’ll find us talking about other events at Prudential Center. You’ll probably also find us posting about events that we feel are important to the city of Newark and the State of New Jersey.
We look forward to many more years of interacting with the best fans in the world and, more importantly, we look forward to hearing from you as to what we can do to make things even better!
LET’S GO DEVILS!
Game Preview – Game 42: Your New Jersey Devils vs Calgary Flames
New Jersey Devils (23-16-2, 48 points) vs Calgary Flames (19-19-5, 43 points)
9:30 PM EST
TV: MSG+ 2
Radio: WFAN 660 AM
Matchup:
Tonight mark’s the one and only time that the New Jersey Devils and the Calgary Flames will battle this season. The two teams last met in November of 2010 which saw the game end in a 2-1 shootout win for the Devils.
What a Difference a Year Makes:
Saturday marked the one year mark since the Devils traded their Captain, Jamie Langenbrunner, to the Dallas Stars. It seemed ever since that move, the Devils horrific season seemed to turn around despite missing the playoffs for the first time since the 95-96 season.
The Devils win on Saturday over Pittsburgh, which saw Ilya Kovalchuk score his 15th goal of the season which puts him in a tie for the team-lead with David Clarkson, put them at 48 points so far this season. This is impressively better as the Devils had only 22 points at the halfway point of last season.
This season so far, the Devils have seven players with double digit goal totals. Some of the skaters are surprises including David Clarkson, who has already surpassed his scoring from last season. Other surprises include Petr Sykora, who made the team out of training camp, and rookie Adam Henrique.
The Devils currently find themselves sixth in the Eastern Conference standings. They are two points out of fifth, four out of fourth (currently held by the Flyers), and eight behind the Rangers for first in the division and the East.
Projected Devils Lineup:
Parise (C) – Henrique – Kovalchuk (A)
Sykora – Elias (A) – Zubrus
Palmieri – Zalewski – Clarkson
Boulton – Carter – Tedenby
Salvador – Larsson
Taormina – Foster
Tallinder – Fayne
Brodeur
Hedberg
Scratches: Zajac, Josefson, Janssen
——————–
The Latest on the Calgary Flames:
The Flames are coming off a bounce-back win against the Minnesota Wild on Saturday after they were embarrassed by the Boston Bruins on Thursday night, 9-0.
The game against the Wild saw important career milestones get reached. Going into the third period the Flames and Wild were scoreless until Lance Bouma was able to beat Niklas Backstrom for his first National Hockey League Goal. This goal started a rally which saw Jarome Iginla score, the eventual game winner, as well as Curtis Glencross. Iginla’s goal was his 500th career NHL goal. What makes this mighty impressive is all the goals were scored with the same team, the Calgary Flames.
Iginla has shown no signs of stopping either, as he is currently on pace to score 30+ goals again in what would be his 11th consecutive season.
Flames Stats Leaders:
Points – Jarome Iginla, 33
Goals – Curtis Glencross, 17
Assists – Olli Jokinen, 21
Projected Flames Lineup:
Stempniak – Backlund – Bouma
Byron – Jones – Comeau
Brostopolous – Horak – Jackman
Bouwmeester – Butler
Brodie – Sarich
Wilson – Babstache
Kiprusoff
Irving
Follow the Devils Army Generals on Facebook and on Twitter for more in-depth coverage of Jersey’s Team.
Game Preview – Game 41: Your New Jersey Devils vs Pittsburgh Penguins
New Jersey Devils (22-16-2, 46 points) vs Pittsburgh Penguins (21-14-4, 46 points)
7:00 PM EST
TV: MSG+
Radio: 970 AM WNYM
Matchup:
This will be the third of six meetings between the Devils and the Penguins this season. Pittsburgh won the first game, which was played in Pittsburgh, 4-1. The Devils were able to secure a win against Pittsburgh at Prudential Center on the last day of 2011 by a score of 3-1.
Devils De-claw Panthers:
Last night’s game between the Devils and Panthers did not seem like a hockey game until the third period. It seemed to resemble a tennis matchup early on. Adam Henrique gave the Devils an early 1-0 lead, but the Panthers were able to tie it just under four minutes later. Mr. 1,000, Patrik Elias, was able to give the Devils an early lead in the second period, scoring just 36 seconds into the period. Yet, the Panthers struck again just over two minutes later to tie the game, again.
It seemed as if it was going to be one of those games, again. The Devils blowing leads, and when it appeared that Florida had something to prove, coming out firing in the third period, I did not have a good feeling in the pit of my stomach.
Just seconds after the Devils Army Generals asked on Twitter who would score the game winning goal for the Devils, we had a goalvalchuk. Kovalchuk’s 13th of the season gave the Devils a 3-2 lead, which was enough for the eventual win. Kovalchuk scored a shorthanded empty netter for his 14th of the season, and Captain Zach Parise also scored an empty netter for his 14th of the season as well.
Palmieri Re-Called:
The New Jersey Devils have announced that right wing Nick Palmieri has been re-called from Albany of the AHL, and places Anton Volchenkov on injured reserve, retroactive to December 31.
This season with New Jersey, Palmieri has four goals and three assists in 23 games played. He has been sent down to Albany twice so far this season. In Albany, Palmieri has three goals and one assist in 15 games.
As for Volchenkov, he has missed three straight games after suffering a lower body injury against Pittsburgh on New Year’s Eve.
Where to Watch the Game:
The Devils Army Generals will be hosting a viewing party tonight at Simko’s Grill in Brielle, NJ. There will be giveaways, drink specials, photo-ops, and an appearance by Devils alum, and Stanley Cup Champion… Jim Dowd!
Be sure to check the event on Facebook, by clicking here, for more details!
Projected Devils Lineup:
Parise (C) – Henrique – Kovalchuk (A)
Sykora – Elias (A) – Zubrus
Tedenby – Zalewski – Clarkson
Boulton – Carter – Palmieri
Salvador – Larsson
Taormina – Foster
Tallinder – Fayne
Brodeur
Hedberg
Scratches: Zajac, Josefson, Janssen
——————–
The Latest on the Pittsburgh Penguins:
Just last week, the Penguins were on the verge of tying the New York Rangers on-top of the Atlantic Division standings, after being prevented by the Philadelphia Flyers, the New Jersey Devils also gave them a loss on New Year’s Eve.
Last night, the Rangers gave the Penguins their season’s worst winless streak of three games, all of which have been against division rivals. After losing at home last night in Pittsburgh, the Penguins will come out strong to make sure they don’t lose back-to-back games at CONSOL Enery Center. Despite the Penguins going up against future hall of famer Martin Brodeur, who has been playing spectacularly against the Penguins recently going 3-1-1, the Devils have yet to win at the Penguins’ new home, 0-3-1.
On the injury front, the Penguins saw Pascal Dupuis (lower body), Steve Sullivan (illness), Richard Park (foot), Paul Martin (lower body) and Zbynek Michalek (undisclosed) all return to the lineup for the Penguins’ game against the Rangers last night. However, just when it seemed all was starting to right itself, the Penguins may be without center Jordan Staal.
With just under five minutes left in the game, Staal and Rangers forward Mike Rupp collided at center ice in what appears to have been knee-to-knee contact. Staal was in obvious pain, but eventually stood and made his way off the ice. Penguins Head Coach Dan Bylsma had no update on Staal’s condition at the end of last night’s game and he is listed as questionable for tonight’s game against the Devils.
Projected Penguins Lineup:
Kunitz – Malkin – Neal
Dupuis – Staal – Kennedy
Sullivan – Park – Cooke
Adams – Vitale – McDonald
Orpik – Niskanen
Martin – Michalek
Lovejoy – Engelland
Fleury
Johnson
Follow the Devils Army Generals on Facebook and on Twitter for more in-depth coverage of Jersey’s Team.
Game Preview – Game 39: Boston Bruins @ Your New Jersey Devils
New Jersey Devils (21-15-2, 44 points) vs Boston Bruins (24-10-1, 49 points)
7:30 PM EST
TV: NBC Sports Network
Radio: WFAN 660 AM
Matchup:
This will be the second of four games between the New Jersey Devils and Boston Bruins this season. The two teams last met on November 15, in Boston, which saw the defending Stanley Cup Champions sneak past the Devils, 4-3.
Shorthanded Goal Blows Devils Third Period Lead:
The New Jersey Devils kryptonite this season has been third period leads and shorthanded goals. Both of these combined to give the Devils only their second overtime loss this season.
So far this season, the Devils have given up 12 shorthanded goals. No other club has given up more than five shorthanded goals. Currently, the Devils are on pace to break the season-record of shorthanded goals against, which is 22 shared by three teams: the 1984-85 Pittsburgh Penguins, the 1991-92 Minnesota North Stars, and the 1995-96 Stanley Cup Champions, the Colorado Avalanche.
On the bright side, the Devils currently are tied with the Carolina Hurricanes for scoring the most shorthanded goals as a team, so far this season, with seven. Last year, the Devils only had five shorthanded goals all season.
No matter how atrocious the powerplay unit seems this year by not converting on powerplay chances and giving up shorthanded goals, the team is still doing a lot better than they were at this point last season. Just be thankful that the Devils aren’t 19 games below NHL-.500, like they were at one point last year.
Projected Devils Lineup:
Parise (C) – Henrique – Kovalchuk (A)
Sykora – Elias (A) – Zubrus
Tedenby – Carter – Clarkson
Boulton – Sestito – Janssen
Salvador – Larsson
Tallinder – Fayne
Taormina – Foster
Brodeur
Hedberg
*Note: Travis Zajac is expected to be a scratch tonight due to expected soreness in his achilles tendon.
——————–
The Latest on the Boston Bruins:
After a slow start, the defending Stanley Cup Champions found themselves with the longest winning streak in the league earlier this season, 10 games. After that was ended, a new streak started when the Bruins looked to win their eighth consecutive game in their last game of 2011 on Saturday against the Stars, but the Stars had different plans handing the Bruins a 4-2 loss. During the Bruins’ seven-game win streak, the Bruins outscored their opponents by a 32-8 margin, but were outshot 244-212.
If you’re a Devils fan reading this, the intimidating stat is the Bruins are 21-3-1 in their last 25 games and are 10-2-0 in their last 12 road games.
Tonight’s game will be the Bruins first game of 2012, and only their third in the past 12 days. The question going into the game is: will the rest benefit the Bruins or will they be relaxed?
Projected Bruins Lineup:
Lucic – Krejci – Horton
Marchand – Bergeron – Seguin
Pouliot – Kelly – Peverly
Paille – Hamill – Thornton
Chara – Boychuk
Seidenberg – Corvo
Ference – McQuaid
Thomas
Rask
Follow the Devils Army Generals on Facebook and on Twitter for more in-depth coverage of Jersey’s Team.
Game Preview – Game 38: Your New Jersey Devils @ Ottawa Senators
New Jersey Devils (21-15-1, 43 points) vs Ottawa Senators (19-5-5, 43 points)
7:30 PM EST
TV: MSG+
Radio: WFAN 660 AM
Matchup:
Tonight, the New Jersey Devils and Ottawa Senators will meet for the second time this season. They last met on December 8 at Prudential Center which saw Adam Henrique give the Devils the edge in a shootout, 5-4.
Devils Only Fourth in the Atlantic Division?:
Am I reading the standings right? The Devils find the Islanders as the only team under them with an 11 point difference.
The Devils have gone 7-3-0 in their last ten, and are playing some of their best hockey this season. Going into tonight’s matchup, the Devils find themselves tied for sixth in the Eastern Conference Standings with their opponents for the night, the Ottawa Senators, and the newly re-formed Winnipeg Jets. Tonight’s game between the Devils and Senators is an important one as even though they are tied for sixth in the East, they’re only one point ahead of the ninth place Washington Capitals.
After their win against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday, the Devils find themselves three points behind the flight-less bird for third in the division, and fifth in the Conference.
The only problem with the Devils so far this season, when it comes to the standings at least, is they’re heavily relying on the shootout. The first tiebreaker for this season, is regulation+overtime wins. Shootout wins will not count. So far this season, the Devils have eight of their 21 wins in a shootout, giving them 13 regulation+overtime wins. Most of the others in the conference have around 18, 19 wins. The Devils need to learn to hold onto a lead and get wins in regulation or, if they must, the sudden death overtime.
Henrique named Rookie of the Month:
For the last month of 2011, Adam Henrique was named the rookie of the month. Henrique had 13 points (5 goals, 8 assists) and posted a +9 rating in 14 games in the month. Henrique was a key part to the Devils winning 10 of 14 games and propelling the Devils into sixth in the Eastern Conference.
This is the first month that Edmonton’s Ryan Nugent-Hopkins has not won the award, showing that Adam Henrique is indeed a threat for Rookie of the Year at season’s end.
Projected Devils Lineup:
Parise (C) – Henrique – Kovalchuk (A)
Sykora – Elias (A) – Zubrus
Tedenby – Zajac – Clarkson
Boulton – Carter – Janssen
Salvador – Larsson
Taormina – Foster
Tallinder – Fayne
Brodeur
Hedberg
——————–
The Latest on the Ottawa Senators:
The Senators are dominating the All-Star balloting, which is no surprise due to the game being played at Scotiabank Place.
The Sens find themselves tied for sixth with the Devils and Jets in the Eastern Conference standings, and are second in the Northeast Division. The Senators won five of their last seven games which has them within six points of the Bruins for the division lead; however, the Bruins have four games in hand on the Senators, which might be the Division title out of reach for the Senators with the way the defending Stanley Cup Champions have been playing.
A player to watch on the Senators tonight is Daniel Alfredsson. The Sens Captain has five points in his last five games.
Projected Senators Lineup:
Greening – Spezza – Michalek
Condra – Turris – Alfredsson
Foligno – Smith – Butler
Daugavins – Konopka – Neil
Kuba – Karlsson
Cowen – Gonchar
Phillips – Lee/Carkner
Anderson
Auld
Follow the Devils Army Generals on Facebook and on Twitter for more in-depth coverage of Jersey’s Team.
