Battle Of Hudson

NJDevs member Skeeter gave us this info from a Lou Q & A on The Rock, and some other issues:

There will be a season NJ Transit train pass available to both full season and partial plan holders. You will be able to purchace it for a fixed price and use it to and from any train station to the Prudential Center. It will be sent out shortly. It is sold by NJ Transit, the Devils are just the middle man and passing it along to us.

They will be running express buses from the Broad St. Station to and from the arena.

They will HOLD trains after games to accomodate everyone, and add trains as needed. No need to worry about not having a train ride home after overtime playoff games.

There will be a big name restaurant at street level that will be open to the public, as well as be open on non-game days. They will also have retail stores and a pro shop at street level that will be open at all times.

There will be approx. 3,000 tickets for each game available to the general public when they go on sale.

The box office or if need be, a makeshift box office will be open for single game tickets the day they go on sale.

There will probably be no area for tailgating.

The arena will open 90 minutes before game time, and restaurants and bars may be open earlier.

Season ticket holders will be able to buy additional tickets for opening night and additional games prior to them going on sale to the public.

Season tickets will be sent out next week.

This will be an overwhelming venue. He is astounded on how well it’s come together, and it’s beyond even his expectations. The sightlines from the balcony and the mezzanine are amazing, and he wishes he had put aside some seats in the balcony for his family because he had no idea how great the view is.

He hinted at knowing when it’s time to let some players go when it becomes more about money than winning and the team. He said “how much money do you really need?”

He says this is the best coaching staff he’s ever had since he’s come to the Devils.

Stevens stops by practice regularly and offers advice and help to the team, but he’s enjoying his family life.

We will be pleasantly surprised by Rachunek and Zubrus. T

he temp box office, if needed would be at the NJPAC. They are waiting for the certificate of occupancy so that they can open the box office.

Someone also asked about moving the AHL team to NJ. He said that want to own the state. A follow up question was asked about having the AHL team play at CAA, and he said that CAA couldn’t pay him to have a team play there again.

Oh, and as for that AHL possibility, he said they had Trenton already and don’t plan on changing their ECHL affiliation. He said they’d like something maybe in Red Bank, Toms River, or Parsippany for an AHL team somewhere down the line, so I think they extended their term in Lowell to work on something else in the state as well as look like they’re making nice with Lowell.

Also, someone mentioned the rumor of him going over to the Rangers a few years ago and he said “the only way you’d get me over there is if you shot me.”

From what it sounded like to me, they plan on having approx. 3,000 tickets for each home game available to the general public on the 12th. He said they would be holding a certain number for current season ticket holders to purchase additional tickets, and I’m sure they’re holding a bunch for potential season and partial season ticket holders because once they see this place, they may want a plan of some sort. I bet as time goes on they’ll release more….Kind of like in 2005 when our home opener against Crosby “sold out” in minutes but the day of the game there were 900 tickets left.

The Rangers have made their final cuts, trimming their roster down to 23 players. As expected, Artem Anisimov was sent down today along with tough decisions in Nigel Dawes and Al Montoya. Marc Staal, Thomas Pock, Stephen Valiquette and Brandon Dubinski all survived the last round of cuts, and are now playing for a shot at starting on Thursday. Perhaps the toughest decision was the demotion of Nigel Dawes, who certainly made a case to stay up with the big club. Dawes was perhaps one of the top six forwards on the ice this preseason. There are just too many wingers with NHL experience blocking him right now. Look for him to be called up at the first injury or lackluster play of one of the veterans. For now, lets look at how the opening day roster could look one of two ways:

Straka – Drury – Jagr
Shannahan – Gomez – Avery
Callahan – Dubinski – Prucha
Orr – Betts – Hollweg

Roszival – Malik
Tyutin – Girardi
Mara – Staal

Scratches – Hossa, Strudwick, Pock
or
Hossa – Drury – Jagr
Shannahan – Gomez – Straka
Callahan – Avery – Prucha
Orr – Betts – Hollweg

Same defense pairings

Scratches – Dubinski, Pock, Strudwick

It really depends on it the Rangers want the tough puckhandler in Hossa or the playmaking winger in Straka on the first line with Jagr. There are about five other variations of the lineup that could happen as well, but these are the two most likely choices, in my opinion. Thoughts?

Marc Staal made an impact on last night’s Rangers vs. Flyers game, scoring the game winning goal with 1:11 left in the 3rd period to give the Rangers a 3-2 win. The game was fast paced, and a little feisty at times. After Orr squared off against Jason Smith, Mike Richards hit Jaromir Jagr late in the first period after the whistle, leading to Chris Drury dropping the gloves and receiving 17 PIMs. Later on in the game, Smith took a run at Nigel Dawes, leading to Shannahan challenging him, although Smith got the better of him in the fight. Seconds later, Strudwick and Riley Cote fought in the Ranger’s defensive zone.

Other than Staal, Brandon Dubinski recorded a power play goal in the second period and Nigel Dawes recorded his own power play goal in the third. Lundqvist played the entire game, giving up the two goals on 28 shots.

Ryan Hollweg was again the center of attention. While trying to establish a physical game, he took a boarding penalty in the first, and a charging penalty in the third. While the boarding call was borderline, and most likely deserved, there was no reason for a charging penalty in the third. Hollweg has earned a reputation for playing a hard nosed game, and it led to him being scrutinized after every hit he throws.

Chemistry between Gomez and Shannahan was again strong, and Drury and Jagr looked well playing together. Over the next four days there will be three more cuts, all of them tough. I’ll be back when those happen.

Game 2 of Ducks-Kings at 12PM on VERSUS. Not sure who’s doing a liveblog today, I’ll update it if I see one.

I’ll leave you with this…

London calling to the faraway towns
Now that war is declared-and battle come down
London calling to the underworld
Come out of the cupboard, all you boys and girls
London calling, now don’t look at us
All that phoney Beatlemania has bitten the dust
London calling, see we ain’t got no swing
‘Cept for the ring of that truncheon thing

CHORUS
The ice age is coming, the sun is zooming in
Engines stop running and the wheat is growing thin
A nuclear error, but I have no fear
London is drowning-and I live by the river

London calling to the imitation zone
Forget it, brother, an’ go it alone
London calling upon the zombies of death
Quit holding out-and draw another breath
London calling-and I don’t wanna shout
But when we were talking-I saw you nodding out
London calling, see we ain’t got no highs
Except for that one with the yellowy eyes

CHORUS

Now get this
London calling, yeah, I was there, too
An’ you know what they said? Well, some of it was true!
London calling at the top of the dial
After all this, won’t you give me a smile?

I never felt so much a’ like

Zubrus and Parise score for the Devils, Kip Brennan scored for the Islanders.

Devils more than doubled the shot total of the Islanders tonight.

I’ll be back with a pre-season wrap-up tomorrow.

After 19 players were dumped on Friday, Matthew Corrente was sent back to Juniors today, so here’s what’s still left. Coming is the rest of the roster along with new player #’s when indicated. New #’s are indicated with a *. Not included on the roster are Colin White, Jamie Langenbrunner and Cam Janssen, who are out with injuries for an extended period of time.

Goaltenders:
#30 Martin Brodeur
#1* Kevin Weekes

Defenders
#2 Vitaly Vishnevski
#6 Andy Greene
#7 Paul Martin
#24 Richard Matvichuk
#27* Mike Mottau
#28 Karel Rachunek
#29 Johnny Oduya

Forwards
#9 Zach Parise
#10* Rod Pelley
#11 John Madden
#12 Nicklas Bergfors
#14 Brian Gionta
#16 Dainius Zubrus
#17 Mike Rupp
#18 Sergei Brylin
#19 Travis Zajac
#20 Jay Pandolfo
#22 Aaron Asham
#23* David Clarkson
#26 Patrick Elias

Here’s tonight’s Devils lineup, without Elias and Oduya, courtesy of Islanders.com

Goaltenders
1 Kevin Weekes
30 Martin Brodeur

Defensemen
28 Karel Rachunek – 6 Andy Greene
2 Vitaly Vishnevski – 7 Paul Martin
24 Richard Matvichuk – 27 Mike Mottau

Forwards
9 Zach Parise – 19 Travis Zajac – 14 Brian Gionta
11 John Madden – 10 Rod Pelley – 22 Arron Asham
17 Mike Rupp – 18 Sergei Brylin – 23 David Clarkson
20 Jay Pandolfo – 16 Dainius Zubrus – 12 Nicklas Bergfors

Sorry for the late update, but the Rangers topped the Islanders last night in a rematch of Monday’s brawl filled affair by a score of 4-2. The Islanders dressed only the required 8 NHL players, and the Rangers had most of their opening day roster in the lineup so the game was tilted from the start. Very little of Monday’s game spilled over, with only the usual rivalry tension. The last 15 minutes or so got a little heated, with a few misconducts handed out, Hollweg and Orr right in the middle of it as usual, and even Fedor Tyutin dropping the gloves. Gomez got the scoring started for the Rangers, followed by two straight from Shannahan and an empty netter for Prucha. Bergenheim and Hunter scored for the Islanders.

The biggest things to take away from the game last night were the chemistry between Gomez and Shannahan, an increased level of play from Lundqvist and Nigel Dawes playing extremely well. Gomez and Shannahan looked great together, and that only helped out Dawes, who was playing on the other side of that line. Dawes is making a strong case for himself with the final roster cuts happening shortly after tonight’s game against the Flyers. It’s a toss up right now between him and Dubinski, who didn’t really show much last night playing with Hollweg and Orr besides having another impressive scrap with Johnson of the Islanders. Lundqvist wasn’t tested much, but after an initial bad goal allowed, looked sharp. His side-to-side movement looked better than previous games and his movement of the puck was minimal, but much better as well.

Jagr is playing tonight, but Avery and Anisimov will not. Anisimov will most likely be headed down to Hartford immediately following the game, and then Renney and the rest of the coaching staff are left with the tough decisions of Dubinski or Dawes, Montoya or Valiquette and Pock or Staal. We’ll see what comes of it.

Also, if you get a minute, there is a real interesting read for Rangers fans over on Blueshirt Bulletin about the league and it’s view on Hollweg, Simon, Downie, etc. I enjoyed it so I figured I’d pass it along.

I’ll check back in later after I get the recap of Rangers and Flyers tonight.

I think sometimes, the rivalry between our teams can be so intense that it gets the best of us. There’s no question that the recent history has had an impact there. And it’s clearly obvious that the history between Hollweg and Simon isn’t going away anytime soon.

In watching some of last night’s game, I will say that Hollweg’s hit on an Islander was cheap because it was late and near the boards. I do think sometimes he pushes the envelope. So, I am not going to take him off the hook when he does stuff like that. He needs to keep his head. He also got a dumb penalty for high sticking.

This game is very intense and everyone is battling. I just didn’t expect it to be at such a feverish pitch in exhibition. There’s eight regular season meetings still between these teams and I’m certain those will be very exciting.

Anyway, I also want to apologize for causing any animosity. It’s a long season and hopefully will be a lot of fun for everyone involved.

And on that note, the Ducks drop the opener to the Kings 4-1. Mike Cammalleri scored twice and Jonathan Bernier notched his first win in his NHL debut.

Bobby Ryan tallied his first career NHL goal for the Ducks.

The rematch is tomorrow in London.

I understand that some of my fellow bloggers felt that I was a bit over the line in the agitation department regarding the Chris Simon – Ryan Hollweg feud. Suffice it to say that I was trying to spice up the dialog and prime us for the regular season ahead. It was an exciting week, especially for pre-season, and I guess I was a bit too into the whole feud. I respect all of the bloggers here and if anyone was offended, I truly apologize.

Rob

That’s right! They’re in the second period in London with the Kings ahead of the defending Stanley Cup champion Ducks 2-0 on power play goals by Mike Cammalleri and new Los Angeles captain Rob Blake.

Not surprisingly, there’s been a ton of penalties called as the teams have already had a combined 11 power plays and we’re not even through the 2007-08’s first 40 minutes!

What would you expect with Gary Bettman in attendance?

The best part of this game though was the beginning. The first ever NHL game in London and what happens? A half hour delay due to bad lighting!!!!!!

You got to love it. Only could happen to the NHL.

One thought on this game. The Ducks miss Scott Niedermayer and Teemu Selanne. Their power play has looked out of synch thus far which would help explain their 0-for-5 output as we near the end of the second.

Two quick others:

1.The Kings D looks really good. They’re getting in lanes blocking shots and breaking up plays. So far so good for them.

2.The rookie Jonathan Bernier who impressed so much in the preseason has looked very steady stopping all 16 Anaheim shots. If this is any indication, the 19 year-old 2006 first round pick (11th overall) should get his shot at being the No.1 goalie for L.A. It would also be in their best interests as a franchise.

Well, maybe we’ll be back for more later. Happy puck day!