October 25th Column

http://www.sportsfanmagazine.com/sfm/topic.html?id=2269

Folks, I made a big step towards my new hockey home by taking a trip to Newark's Prudential Center for an open house this weekend. I was shocked that, upon entry, I wasn't sufficiently kicked in the balls by an overzealous security guard, a gang member, or God forbid, Lou Lamoriello.


But my thumbs must be pointed up at the Devils new building: What a place this will be to watch hockey! Be prepared for stories like the ones you hear from people who go see games in Columbus or Minnesota or San Jose...except now, they're talking about the great city of Newark.


First of all, this place is huge. While the Meadowlands looks small on the outside, yet is as cavernous as [hilarious, yet too dirty to print Britney Spears joke] on the inside, "The Rock" is an enormous building, yet uses most of it's space on providing more roomy concourses, more bathrooms and more amenities to the fans. The seats are a lot closer to the ice, at every level than they were at the Meadowlands. Thank goodness for the concourses; I'm pretty sure if you brought a girlfriend to a sold out game at the Continental Airlines Arena, she might've walked out pregnant.


What else positive can I talk about? How about Nathan's hot dogs and fries, for cheap? A stand that's title was all I needed to hear..."Beers of Newark"...mmm...Newark. Finally, you know what the best part about this building is? It creates a "Devils" atmosphere that the Continental Arena couldn't. There is reportedly over $1 million in artwork throughout the building, and most of it is Devil-related, from murals of greats like Brodeur and Stevens, to one located behind a section of boarding on the concourse with all three Stanley Cup Winning coaches and some of the Devils who went through the trenches, like MacLean, Resch and Brylin.


What negatives can I say? It IS in Newark, so that stigma will keep people away from say...a Wednesday night home game against San Jose. But the Devils look to be doing the smart thing, and are gathering rave reviews from anyone who has been there. In summation, your reaction will be similar to the one many Devils fans had after going to retirement ceremonies for Scott Stevens and Ken Daneyko..."Can you believe the Devils did THIS?"...


So let's talk about Jonathan Toews' ridonkulous (check your urban dictionaries, people!) goal against professional hockey players, paid millions of dollars to at least take a penalty in that situation (LINK: http://youtube.com/watch?v=obp8G2JFgkM). http://blackhawks.nhl.com/team/app/?service=page&page=NewsPage&articleid=340871) To top that, they even posted Wirtz's memo to Blackhawk employees on their website (LINK: http://blackhawks.nhl.com/ext/rockywirtzmemo.pdf)


And a gasp went through the crowd.


All I can say is, good for Hawks fans. You certainly deserve it. With the revival of the Blues I mentioned last week, perhaps a good St. Louis-Chicago rivalry is just what this league needs to create some buzz past the Great Lakes region. I really hope against hope that both teams can make the playoffs. I know it isn't very likely, but don't teams like the Blues and Blackhawks just sound like the post-season to you?


Finally, here are some pairs of numbers from the first few weeks that may startle you:




5 - Combined goals from Jaromir Jagr, Brendan Shanahan, Scott Gomez and Chris Drury (NYR)

7 - Combined goals from John Madden and Jay Pandolfo (NJ)

1.61 - Pascal Lecaire's (CLB) Goals Against Average.

3.15 - Roberto Luongo's (VAN) Goals Against Average.

125.3% - Capacity to which Anaheim has played its home games to date.

85.8% - Capacity to which Detroit has played its home games to date.

-SFM-


Steve Lepore is a writer for SportsFan Magazine.