Newark two hours before faceoff

Well, here we go again…yet another winter storm, this time one that is pretty much nonstop throughout the day from early in the morning till late into the night.  Original forecasts had 6-10 inches for northern NJ but it might get worse than that at the rate things are going.  With similar forecasts and issues in Philadelphia, the Flyers postponed their game with the Hurricanes tonight.  New Jersey governor Chris Christie declared a state of emergency in New Jersey, urging all citizens to stay off the roads and many – including yours truly got an early, if hazardous trek home from work.  Despite all that, unconscionably the Devils and the St. Louis Blues are playing a hockey game in Newark tonight.

I realize the NHL’s official rule is that if both teams are in town the game gets played – except in the case of outside pressure like the state or the county urging a cancellation.  However this kind of short-sighted view by the NHL doesn’t take into account fans, media or arena workers…the latter two groups having no choice but to report.  Fans have a choice of course, though with higher prices for tickets every season some just hate to see the money go to waste while others shall we say probably have a screw loose for wanting to come in these conditions.  Well, most fans have a choice anyway…in the case of the Diablos (the fans in 122 who stand the whole game) section it’s a little different.  Since they get season tickets for $100, one of the requirements is that you or someone else you can give the tickets to must attend every game.  If not, your tickets get revoked.  Even on a night like tonight, that draconian policy is being upheld – and that’s clearly shortsighted on the Devils’ part.  You’re either wantonly endangering a good chunk of fans by making them come, or you’re blowing up the fan section in half a season by revoking their tickets since there’s no waiting list for the Diablos.  For whatever issues I have with them and their noisemakers, you shouldn’t have to risk life and limb just to keep your tickets.

I realize there are very real concerns with postponing a game in a shortened season, such as the lack of possible makeup dates and potential travel issues considering St. Louis isn’t exactly around the block from Newark.  However it’s already been done twice this year – obviously the snowstorm in Buffalo that canceled a Sabres game with the Hurricanes a few weeks ago was even more dramatic than the one here in Jersey today.  It’s not as if the NHL is completely inflexible, although they did nix an Islander request to postpone a game in late December 2010. Ironically the Devils themselves seemed less concerned about playing on that same day, which was an even bigger storm than today though not by much.

As a franchise we seem to celebrate a macho version of toughing it out when it comes to the weather.  I don’t remember a Devils home game ever being postponed due to weather and we’ve had some bad days in the Northeast.  To this day the ‘334 club’ remains a lionized event in franchise history, where a Devils-Flames game twenty-seven years ago from tomorrow got played despite a blizzard that caused the start time to be delayed 105 minutes because many of the players couldn’t make it on time.  In spite of the 15 inches of snow and heavy traffic congestion with no mass transit to the Meadowlands at that point, 334 hearty (or insane) souls made it to the arena to see a Devils 7-5 win.  After the game, the Devils sent out a letter to all who attended, giving them a badge, t-shirt and complimentary tickets to a future game.  Would I ever drive in weather that severe?  Heck no, though admittedly the fact I’m a season ticket holder now decreases my need to go to any specific regular season game.  If I was living in California and made it back for a once-a-year trip I’d find it a lot more difficult to not go, but I still couldn’t picture myself making the trip.  Luckily I sold my tickets for tonight a week or so ago since I was supposed to be at another event which was canceled because of the weather, and don’t have to practically give away my seats.

As much enjoyment as we get from hockey it’s still a game, not a neccesity.  I don’t want to disparage those who do go…to each their own.  Fact is though, the Devils and the NHL were and are very fortunate there haven’t been any serious fan, worker, media or player-related accidents after one of these games.  Admittedly it’s somwhat amusing (to me) that Devil players Patrik Elias and Travis Zajac were both stuck in Zajac’s car for the entire night after the aformentioned 2010 blizzard game, but I’m sure it wasn’t funny for them at the time.  Still, it’ll obviously take something more serious than that happening for the NHL and especially the Devils to be a little more reasonable in putting people’s lives at risk during extreme weather.  It shouldn’t have to come to that.