Devils 3, Penguins 1 - Prudential Center - Newark, NJ

With apologies to my Canadian and Pittsburgh readers, Pics of Me in Front of Stuff  hates Sidney Crosby.  Pics of Me in Front of Stuff hates Sid the Squid and his big over-inflated lips with a passion that burns deep the Official Soul of Pics of Me in Front of Stuff.  There really is no explanation for it.  It is just one of those things.

The part that is most confusing is that Pics of Me in Front of Stuff is not a hockey fan.  Pics of Me in Front of Stuff is a fan of most of the sports Philadelphia has to offer but the Flyers are not among those teams.  It might be related to the recent loss by the American Olympic Hockey team to the Canadians in the Gold Medal Game.  Pics of Me in Front of Stuff feels a strong pride in the Official Home of Pics of Me in Front of Stuff whether it's the Official Hometown, Official State, or Official Country.  Cindy Crosby went and scored the game winning goal in OT against Team USA so the correlation is pretty clear.  The Bartner, a Pittsburgh sports fan, texted the Official Cell Phone of Pics of Me in Front of Stuff after the loss stating it was bittersweet because it was Crosby that scored.  The Official Reply of Pics of Me in Front of Stuff was that he needs to get the fuck out of the Official Country of Pics of ME in Front of Stuff if there was anything sweet about Team USA losing.  If only it was that simple.  Pics of Me in Front of Stuff felt disdain for Squidney Crybaby even before Team Canada received their gold medals.

Crosby does suck though it is unclear why. Maybe it is Pics of Me in Front of Stuff's disdain for Pittsburgh sport.  The Official Dislike of Pittsburgh sports does not burn with the same intensity of the Dallas Cowboys, New York Yankees, New York Mets, and/or New York Giants.  The Pittsburgh hate is something different.  Like when a guy walks into a room and you automatically hate him.  There is nothing he nor Pittsburgh can do, it's just the way it is.  It might be the black and gold color scheme or the fact Pittsburgh football team has won 6 more Super Bowls than Official Football Team of Pics of Me in Front of Stuff or the fact that Ben Roethlisberger can not stop sexually assaulting women or the fact that Pittsburgh fans magically appear whenever their team wins.  It's like the Halloween episode of South Park where the boys keep making Biggie Smalls appear by saying his name into a mirror three times.  Interestingly, Pirates fans never seem to show up.

I won't lie and say I have not been a lifelong, hardcore Phillies fan, but I hopped on the bandwagon in 2005 well before the current successful run started to take flight in 2007. Besides I could not resist this guy for too long.

But this post is not about baseball in Philly or Pittsburgh, it is about a hockey game in New Jersey.  The Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey is home to the New Jersey Devils among other less successful sports franchises. 

There is a hockey player in Championship Plaza and not a basketball player for a reason.

As a relatively recent resident of New Jersey I really want to try to cheer for someone from the state.  All the teams with New York names, but New Jersey addresses are out for obvious reasons.  For professional and major college sports that leaves Seton Hall basketball, Rutgers football, the Nets, and the Devils.  Seton Hall basketball is the obvious choice as I am working on my PhD part time there.  The Seton Hall Pirates have a rich history in basketball, but recently have been mediocre at best.  Rutgers is a good choice because their football uniforms resemble my high school's and they have recently become competitive.  The Rutgers-Penn State series is about to restart and I will not even pretend to cheer for the Scarlet Knights.  The Nets are a possibility because if I cheer for them now and they become good I can say I was a fan when they were historically bad...before Lebron signs here because of Jay-Z.  But seriously, they are historically bad.  Finally, there is the Devils who play a sport I am indifferent towards but for which I had tickets.

 Advantage Devils.

The game was important for playoff positioning with the Devils hoping to catch the Penguins, the defending Stanley Cup champions, in the NHL's Atlantic Division late in the season.  The Devils have owned the Penguins this year and this could end up being a conference championship preview.  Aside from all of that, the fans of opposing teams on the East Coast (i.e. Flyers, Rangers, Devils, etc.) hate Sidney Crosby much more than I do.  Those circumstances should have created an electric atmosphere among the home fans on a Friday night.  Unfortunately, there appears to be an extremely limited number of Devil's fans.  An 'omigosh this is a little depressing' number of Devil's fans were at the game for a team that has multiple championships within the past 15 years and one of the best greatest goalies of all time in net.

 Martin Brodeur is pretty good.

Why does no one in New Jersey seem to care?
Even though hardly anyone showed up, they still played the game.  The game started off quickly with each team scoring a goal within the first 10 minutes of the first period.  The scoring stopped through the rest of the next two periods.  Marc-Andre Fleury, aside from the sissy name, is a pretty good goalie, too.

Fortunately the fighting frequency picked up.

Fighting for hockey fans is like wrecks for NASCAR fans; it's the real reason they watch.  Or at least it's the real reason I watch on the infrequent times I do watch.

If not going to score goals, you might as well have a fight in front of the goal to show your frustration.
There also was a penalty shot which  was videotaped poorly by yours truly.

In the third period, the Devils resumed scoring.  The Penguins did not.  The Devils won 3-1. 

 As for impressions of the game, several friends of Pics of Me in Front of Stuff told me that watching an NHL game live would make Pics of Me in Front of Stuff fall in love with the game.  This was not true.  The game was exciting and it was fun to be in the arena, but Pics of Me in Front of Stuff does not feel any stronger affection for hockey than prior to the game.  Nor does a team based in New Jersey hold a special place in my heart.  Baseball remains the top game to watch in person and football remains the top sport to watch on television.  Hockey is in the mix with basketball and English Premier League soccer to watch on television.  The Official Universe of Pics of Me in Front of stuff was not rocked by a trip to the...Rock.
CROSBY SUCKS!