Funny thing is I still remember that 2003 run like it was last year.  Although ironically last year’s playoff run did recapture past glories for a few weeks and gave us some fresh, new memories.  And in a way last year’s run has its own special place in my heart, since I was a full-fledged season ticket holder for the first time during a long playoff run, and was able to share it with fellow sth’s who are arena buddies and my best friend who’s become a lot more of a fan since she started going to games with me.  Of course given the fact we had a war of a first-round series with Florida, and then had to get past our two biggest rivals would have made last year’s run memorable regardless but being to every single playoff home game added a little extra emotional oomph to it.  From my anger and frustration during and after Game 3 against the Panthers to my ecstacy after Game 6 against the Rangers, and my pride after Game 5 against the Kings when once again last year’s team refused to quit and pushed the eventual champs farther than anyone else. 

In a way nothing will surpass 2003 for me though.  Winning for the first time in ’95 was like getting a new toy since I’d only really become a full-time fan the year before.  I didn’t have SportsChannel on a regular basis until my family moved before the ’95 season so in a way it was fortuitous timing that I would get into hockey for the first time during the ’94 playoff run, especially with the Conference Finals with the Rangers on MSG (something that’d be unheard of today with national TV contracts being what they are).  2000 was an emotional roller coaster, with a talented team having suffered four straight devastating early ends to their season after ’95, and things looked to be going up in smoke again towards the end of the regular season when Robbie Ftorek was fired with only eight games remaining.  Even after that, things looked bleak in the Conference Finals against the Flyers when this talented but mercurial team drove mild-mannered replacement Larry Robinson to exacerbation, before they finally rebounded to win it all in dramatic fashion.

In those days I mostly watched on TV though.  Probably my most number of games attended in a season was around 8-10, usually when my dad’s boss got us his tickets in the lower corner.  I was able to go to the memorable Game 6 against Toronto in 2000 (the six-shot game), but other than that and the hideous Game 4 loss to the Flyers I wasn’t in attendance for any of the other playoff games.  That was the last season I was able to sit in those seats though.  It took a while before I started to go to games myself.  Especially since I knew few other Devil fans in those days and wasn’t too fond of the drive in, I actually didn’t go to a single regular season game in ’03.  

That doesn’t mean I wasn’t enjoying the team.  If anything that year felt like a true ‘us vs. the world’ mentality, at least as far as I was concerned.  Coming off a poor year in ’02, with the offseason defection of Bobby Holik across the Hudson and contreversial trade of former A-liner Petr Sykora, there was a lot of negativity surrounding the Devils in ’03, even with Pat Burns coming in to coach the team.  I always liked and respected Burns even before he got to the Devils, to me he was the NHL equivalent of Bill Parcells (another coach I was a huge fan of even before he got to my team), and that was a big part of the reason I believed in the team where many other Devils fans didn’t.  Being on the NJDevs message board at that time, the negativity and skepticism was palpable but where others doubted, I believed.  Especially with the fact the Devils went almost the entire season without losing three straight games – compare that with this season and the six/ten game losing streaks!

Even with the team in first place, the criticism was insane when the Devils did ‘nothing’ at the deadline, as Lou Lamoriello contented himself with acquiring role players like Grant Marshall and Pascal Rheaume while other teams got the sexy names and Teemu Selanne allegedly turned down a deal to New Jersey to remain in San Jose.  To add more fuel to the firestorm, Scott Gomez and Oleg Tverdovsky were healthy scratches the night of the deadline, leading to the speculation they were involved in the alleged Selanne deal that fell through.  As has been the case often in his career though, Lou was proven right in the end as Marshall and Rheaume carved out important roles down the stretch and in the postseason and the team as constituted proved good enough.

That wasn’t immediately evident though, even after the Devils disposed of the Bruins and Lightning in quick five-game series to get to the Eastern Conference Finals…where they seemed to face certain defeat against a powerful Senators team that won the President’s Trophy and had offense to burn, as well as a young Zdeno Chara leading a talented defensive core.  Losing Game 1 in OT seemed like a missed opportunity that would come back to bite us, but amazingly the Devils won the next three games including a 5-2 drubbing in Game 4 that was my first game attended of the season.  I’d finally decided by that point screw the drive and the fact I was going myself, I was going to support this team and enjoy the playoff run in-person.  Perhaps for the only time all postseason though, I went from believer to overconfident before Game 6, which I was also attending.  I figured if we were going to win it had to be in six games, and it was all set up for us, especially with our 8-0 home record in the postseason up to that point.  With everything that had happened that season, things seemed all set up for a return to glory and a trophy celebration.

Ottawa didn’t cooperate with the script though, winning another OT game and spoiling a potential home celebration.  Now it seemed the tide had turned with the series tied, and top center Joe Nieuwendyk hurt to add injury to insult.  Maybe for the only time all season I doubted the team’s chances in Game 7, but deep down I still thought if any team could overcome the odds this one could.  True to form, that team found a way somehow, someway.  Even in a hostile environment, even after falling behind early and giving up a bad third-period goal after they’d re-taken the lead.  Playoff hero Jeff Friesen came through once again, scoring the decisive goal with under three minutes left after a pinpoint pass from Marshall through the legs of defenseman Wade Redden.  

At that point, I knew we weren’t going to be denied.  I just knew it, with a belief I’ve seldom had before or since.  Even with all the hoopla around the Cinderella Mighty Ducks and eventual Conn Smythe winner Jean-Sebastian Giguere in the Finals.  I got tickets to Games 1 and 5 before the series but was unable to get Game 7.  And I did go to Games 1 and 5, which were both wins as the series took on a hometown feel with each team protecting its home rink throughout.  After Game 4 I wound up going on e-bay and paying a pretty penny for a lower-bowl seat to Game 7, just in case ($370 for a $150 face value seat).  I’m not ashamed of that either, since a Finals Game 7 could very well be a once-in-a-lifetime event and sure enough, the series did come down to that single-elimination game in the end.  I might feel different about things if we’d lost in the end, but before Game 7 my main concern wasn’t what I’d paid for the ticket but rather the fact I’d gotten sick with the flu.  That wasn’t going to stop me from going either though, not that night.

I still thought we’d win but obviously you’re going to be nervous in a one-game situation with the season on the line.  Before the game a nice moment happened though.  Lifelong Devil Ken Daneyko had been a healthy scratch for the first six games of the series, as his career was winding down in those final weeks of 2003.  When the scratches before Game 7 were announced and Dano’s name wasn’t among them, the crowd roared and emotionally I felt that everything was going to be just fine now.  Ironically it was the no-nonsense Burns who showed an emotional understanding of what the team and crowd needed at that moment.  And sure enough things were just fine, as once again Martin Brodeur pitched a shutout and once again Friesen got a put-away goal late to clinch our 3-0 win and ensure a once-in-a-lifetime event for me (maybe twice in a lifetime for the select Devil fans that were fortunate enough to be there in Game 4 of ’95 as well).

That 2003 season is the lure of being a sports fan, something every fan wants to experience with their team at least once.  And the Devils’ triumph against the odds proved yet again that sports is by far the best reality TV out there.