Unbelievable how times flies, isn’t it?
I remember the Devils winning their first Stanley Cup quite well, as if it just happened maybe a few years ago. But then, earlier today, I heard on NJN News that the 25th anniversary of this historic (especially for New Jersey) event was fast approaching. It hardly feels possible that it could have been that long, but I guess the calendar does not lie, does it?
Sports can be funny in some ways. It can take you through the highs and the lows, and that is true of being a sports fan, as well. Some of my very favorite memories were of great moments for teams and/or individuals who I was a fan of over the years. Looking back at some of my favorite sports memories, I can remember many highs (and some lows, admittedly, as well) just in terms of being a fan.
Perhaps my top sports memory was of France winning their first World Cup back in 1998, when it also hosted. My brother somehow managed to get tickets to the semifinal (which ended up being between France itself, as well as Croatia), and he offered to take me. So that was the main impetus for what became a whole return trip to France. But that first week was incredible, from the semifinal game which we went to and enjoyed (it was one of the vert best football/soccer games that I have ever seen), followed by seeing the Three Tenors at the Champ de Mars, followed by France winning the World Cup Final against favored Brazil, followed by the celebrations on the 14th of July, France’s national holiday. The memories from that World Cup run were amazing. As pleased as I was when France won it again back in 2018, it did not quite feel the same. The family was together, including my son, who is old enough now to remember it, and I was thankful for him getting to see it. But in 1998, my brother and I were actually in France, in Paris, and had attended a game. We were in Paris celebrating with the rest of the city after they won the whole thing and became world champions. That qualifies as my favorite sports memory, and it was particularly special, since they hosted the tournament.
Next was probably Super Bowl XXV. As a Giants fan, that season felt far less sure than their other Super Bowl seasons, which made the final results all the more satisfying. I had been just 12 years old when they won the first time, but was 16 and in high school when they won it all again in January of 1991. They just squeaked by the 49ers in San Francisco, and that was when the 49ers were the perfect rivals, enjoying perhaps the best run of any NFL team that I have seen, before or since (including the Patriots). It is hard for people now to understand just how good, and virtually unbeatable, the 49ers seemed to be. But it felt incredibly satisfying as a Giants fan to know that they had finally been the team to end the 49ers dynasty of the 1980’s. Then, the very next week (the first time there was not that two week grace period between the championship games and the Super Bowl), the Giants just edged the highly explosive and heavily favored Buffalo Bills, to win their second title in five seasons). The Giants have won two other Super Bowls since, and both of them were exciting wins against the Patriots, including that year when New England was undefeated. Yet, I maintain that for me, far and away, the most exciting time to be a Giants fan was in January of 1991.
Some other teams and/or individuals that I really liked enjoyed some success, as well. I remember the Nets winning two straight Eastern Conference Championships in 2002 and 2003, and I actually went to some cool playoff games involving them at the time. But they did not win either of the NBA Finals that they qualified for, and were actually swept by the Lakers in the first one. That said, I was thrilled to see the Toronto Raptors take the NBA Championship last year, being a fan of the only Canadian NBA franchise. My favorite tennis player, Andre Agassi, was one of those who took me, as a fan, through various highs and lows. There were obviously matches, and even whole tournaments, where he did not live up to the enormous expectations and billings that always surrounded him and his image (Image is everything, remember?). But I was very glad when he won Wimbledon in 1992, the US Open twice - especially the first time in 1994 - and the Australian Open four times – but especially the one in 1995. However, the top moment as a fan of his, for me, was when he won the French Open. It was the third time that he had reached that final, and those had been perhaps the biggest disappointments to me as a fan, when he lost those first two French Open Men’s Final matches in back-to-bac years in the early nineties. But after dropping the first two sets, he came storming back and found his way to victory, finally winning the one Grand Slam tournament that had eluded him. At the time, he was the first man in about thirty years to have achieved that feat of a career Grand Slam, setting him apart from all other men, including the one man who had clearly been ahead of him in virtually every way to that point, Pete Sampras. But with that one win, Agassi now had the career Grand Slam achievement to his name, and he was also the first (and still one of only two men in history, the other being Rafael Nadal) to have achieved what they refer to as the “career Golden Slam,” which is having won all four Grand Slam titles and the Olympic Gold Medal). I actually saw one of the most important and memorable matches of Agassi’s career, when he played Pete Sampras at the US Open Men’s Final in 2002, but he lost. It was still great to see, and I was there to see it. Still, that 1999 French Open Men’s Final was, to me, far and away my favorite tennis memory.
In hockey, I remember the Montréal Canadiens winning the Cup twice, although that was when the Québec Nordiques were still an actual NHL franchise, and they were kind of my co-favorite team, along with the New Jersey Devils. This was all before the NHL began to favor southern expansion at the expense of northern cities, especially Canadian ones, and so I was a bit tired of the Canadiens and their legacy. All of that changed once Québec lost their NHL franchise, and that franchise went on to win the Stanley Cup in it’s very first year of existence as the Colorado Avalanche. That left a bitter taste.
But the year before that, in 1995, the New Jersey Devils, a team that had been getting better and coming closer to reaching truly elite status, finally broke through. They had enjoyed a tremendously successful season back in 1993-94, and met the New York Rangers in the Eastern Conference Finals. In fact, they owned a three games to two lead heading into Game 6 in New Jersey, and had a lead going into the final period. But Marc Messier, as many people will recall, had boldly predicted a win, and he scored a hat trick to lift his team to the win to force a decisive Game 7 at Madison Square Garden. The Devils still played well in that one, but they eventually fell short and lost, while the Rangers would eventually lift the Cup a few weeks later.
The 1995 season was a bit bizarre, as many may recall. It was a strike-shortened season, and the Devils did not stand out as much as many had expected them to during the regular season. If memory serves correctly, they were the fifth seed. But once in the playoffs, they suddenly were virtually unbeatable. The dominated the Boston Bruins in the first round, four games to one, and beat the Pittsburgh Penguins by the same margin in the next round. In the Eastern Conference Finals, I managed to get tickets to Game 6, and hoped that the series would reach that point. It did not appear promising, as the Devils took the first two games in Philly. But the Flyers tied the series with two road wins in New Jersey, and I was happy that I would finally see an NHL playoff game. The Devils won Game 5, and had a chance to ice the series in Game 6. So, my friend and I went, and we enjoyed watching the Devils finally take care of the Flyers at home, and qualify for their first ever Stanley Cup Finals appearance.
When the Devils were now in the Cup Finals, they faced the Detroit Red Wings, who had looked simply awesome during the regular season, and were heavily favored to capture the Cup. As a Devils fan, it was a bit daunting to think about, and the fact that Detroit had home ice advantage was a bit intimidating, as well.
Yet, the Devils looked awesome in take Game 1 in Detroit, and suddenly, it felt like home ice might not mean quite as much as it otherwise would have. When the Devils took Game 2 for a commanding two games to none lead, it suddenly felt like the Cup was within reach. But it would not do to get ahead of ourselves, since the Flyers had also lost both of their first two home games in the prior series, only to win the next two in new Jersey.
But in Game 3 of the Cup Finals, the Devils dominated Detroit. The game was never in doubt, and now, with a comfortable three games to none lead, the series could hardly be in doubt, either. Suddenly, New Jersey was on the cusp of their first major sports championship.
The Red Wings showed up in Game 4, however. It was a tough game, and a close one. It could even be argued that Detroit played their best game for that final game, when they were facing elimination. If the Devils lost, and the Red Wings perhaps could take Game 5 in Detroit, was it not impossible that they could make a series of it yet?
That, however, would not happen. The Devils broke the game open in the third and final period, pulling away towards the end. Any last doubts were alleviated once they got the final goal for a 5-2 lead. All that was left was the countdown to the end of the game, and thus, the end of the series. The Red Wings were spent, and had nothing left. They had been completely and utterly dominated by a Devils team that suddenly looked like they had been the team of destiny all along. That season, in fact, they were.
Suddenly, the New Jersey Devils - the first major sports franchise in the history of the Garden State - were the champions. They had come close the season before, yet many people felt that their chance to achieve greatness had passed. Then, just like that, they turned it completely around, hoisting the most prestigious, and arguably the most famous, championship trophy in North American sports.
Great memories, and a great team! They would have awesome regular seasons in the following years, from 1996 - 1999, winning the top seed in the Eastern Conference each of those seasons. Yet, they got eliminated early in each of those postseasons. But the Devils would return back to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2000, and would outlast the defending Stanley Cup Champion Dallas Stars, thus earning their second Stanley Cup title. They came within a whisker of winning back-to-back Stanley Cups the following season, but fell just short to the Colorado Avalanche in a seven game series. However, the Devils would return to elite form in 2003, once again earning the number one seed, and this time taking it all the way to the Cup Finals, eliminating the Anaheim Mighty Ducks in Game 7, to hoist the Cup for a third time. That would be the last time that the Devils were so good, although they went back to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2012, ultimately losing a six-game season against the seeming team of destiny, the Los Angeles Kings, but acquitting themselves well by playing hard and enjoying such a successful postseason, including a decent series against the Kings.
A lot of success in a fairly short period of time. But it all started with that incredible Stanley Cup Championship back in 1995, where the team finally began to build a truly championship legacy for itself, emerging out of the shadow of the local rivals, the New York Rangers, to earn the spotlight for themselves.
No comments:
Post a Comment