Martin Brodeur - Fan of the week

About a month ago, I took my family down to see the Devils play the Caps in New Jersey. I had seen the Devils play live before, but I had never seen them play a home game so this was a big deal for me (almost like going to the promised land). I have always wanted to see my boys play live at home and to have 17 625 fans around you cheering is a great feeling! We got tickets in the lower bowl near the home goal and were high enough up that you didn't have the glass obstructing your view. The score wasn't what I had hoped for (3-0 loss), but being there on Retro Night and seeing those old green uniforms was worth it, no matter what the outcome was!

When we got home, I submitted a photo of my son Quinn to Martin Brodeur's website. I found out yesterday that he was selected as fan of the week which prompted me to share this story.

Here is the screenshot of the page or you can see by checking this link

Here are a few photos of our trip to the game.

Here is the Prudential Center of the outside. A much nicer arena than the old Meadowlands!

The view from the inside. Three Cup banners, not too bad! I remember each clinching game and to see those banners brings back great memories.

One reason I chose the game was because we were playing against Washington. Ovi had two points in the game and one really nice dangle in the third period that resulted in a shot on goal.

Washington opened the scoring, here is the first goal. Marty looked great in the retro uniform, and his replica helmet. He actually wore 29 for the first couple of games in his NHL career.

Clarkson has had a tough season. Didn't quite live up to expectations but did have a strong second half. We need more out of him and others if we are going to learn from this experience.

Kovy really stood out in this game, created a few great opportunities, but also a couple of costly turnovers. I know he will get his own Cup ring someday and silence his critics.

Here is Quinn at the end of the game, tired out from all the action.

Walt and Me

When I was a kid, I loved playing hockey at the outdoor rinks. Having spent the first 14 years of my life in Thunder Bay, I had the chance to play hockey outdoors for about 4 months of the year. Some days we would spent 5 hours just playing hockey and the only breaks we would take are to shovel snow off the ice and then get right back to it.

I can still remember my greatest day at the outdoor rink. It was 1992 and we had been playing outside for a while when someone joined our game. He was a tall man; much older than we were and he was wearing what I thought was the coolest jacket in the world. It was a green satin jacket with a Devils emblem on the left part of the chest. I knew right away this was Walt Poddubny! I only found this out later, but he was at home in Thunder Bay recovering from another injury.

I can honestly say I don’t remember if he was on my team or the other team but that afternoon I was playing “in the NHL”. He skated with us kids for what seemed like hours and we just had some much fun making passes, poke checks and the odd “rub out”. I didn’t want to ever leave that ice but of course Walt would eventually leave and all us kids had homes to get to for supper and that ended our fun for that day. I would go back to that ice over and over again hoping to relive that magic but the chance would never come. I would eventually move away from Thunder Bay and play on different rinks but it would never match that day.

My parents went to a fundraiser not long after that game and they would come home with a few autographed items. My step-father bought himself a Darren Turcotte autograph puck (which I have now); a Guy Carbonneau autographed Montreal Canadiens sweatshirt and a small gift for me. The gift was an 89-90 OPC Devils team set which I found an odd gift because I had all those cards in a complete set already. However, when I looked at the cards, one of them was autographed. The autographed card turned out to be Walt Poddubny who was at the event. This card meant more to me than every other card in my collection at the time because I could say I played hockey with that guy….even though it was only for one afternoon.

Here is a picture of Walt's rookie card. I have one of these and it is my favourite of all his cards.

Here is the autographed 89-90 OPC card my parents got for me.

A little more than 2 years ago Walt passed away suddenly. He was about the same age as my step-father who also passed away suddenly the following year. It is always tragic to lose someone at such a young age. For a period of three years Walt was a dominate force in the NHL scoring 116 goals in the time period. But I will always remember him as the kind man in the green satin jacket who made a few kids feel like stars for one afternoon.

Here is link to a nice obituary of Walt with a recent photo prior to his passing.

http://www.sargentandson.com/obituaries_display.asp?ID=902

Brent Sutter - TTM

These autographs I received a couple of days before the Kisio ones. I mailed these ones out and got them back all within a span of 3 weeks.

1989-90 OPC

1990-91 UD

Both autographs were done with a black sharpie.

Brent Sutter was a great 2-way player who also has the claim to fame of being one of 6 brothers to make it to the NHL. Brent had the longest NHL career of the brothers and also had the most goals and point. Brent's best season as a player was in 84-85 when he scored 42 goals and 102 points for the Islanders.

When he finished his player career he stayed in hockey by both being an owner and a coach. When the Devils pursued Brent to join them as their head coach I was extremely excited because I felt he was going to be our missing puzzle to get us back the the Stanley Cup. He didn't disappoint in the regular season coaching the Devils to 99 and 106 point season respectively, but come playoff time the team just didn't seem to have anything left in the tank and fell in the first round both times.

Brent then left and his departure didn't sit well with many Devils fans, but often we forget how human these people are and how they have families and lives outside of the game and it really wasn't working for Brent to live in NJ and have a family in Alberta. Brent is currently coaching the Calgary Flames and has been for the last 2 seasons.

The Sutter tradition does continue as his son Brandon is playing in Carolina and he has nephew Brett who is also in the same organization as Brandon.