Sometimes it’s good to get greedy. Like right now. After euphoric Games 6 and 7, the playoffs have become addictive and belief in this significant group is building. The New Jersey Devils’ hard work this season and these past two weeks paid off by qualifying for hockey in May. As it turns out, there is now a possibility of facing the two greatest adversaries in a dream route to the Stanley Cup Finals. So don’t hope for the rangers loss to Washington DC, let that pleasure come to the New Jersey Devils in the Eastern Conference Finals with everyone watching.
Up next: the Philadelphia Flyers. What a great series to look forward to as Game 1 has proven. This is a team that has always been dedicated to an awesome style of hockey. Like a bunch of soccer hooligans turned hockey players. Like rugby on ice. And they just happen to be fierce rivals as the southern half of our great state supports them.
This next chapter of the extraordinary Turnpike Series will produce less goals and fights than the battle between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh as the Devils will apply their discipline, organization, and sense of purpose to repeat the successful elimination of Philadelphia in eminent years 1995 and 2000, which involved the famous triumph led by our legendary coach. On May 20 2000, the Devils lost Game 4, their third in a row, to drop to 1-3 against Philadelphia in the Eastern Conference Finals. In the locker room of Continental Airlines Arena after that game, Head Coach Larry Robinson initiated the turning point of the season by indicating his displeasure of seeing the talented group face elimination in a rare demonstration of passion and emotion where he locked the door and screamed at the squadron, kicked over a trash can, and ignited the unison and resurgence of the hockey club. Jersey’s Team went on to win three in a row to win the historic series and then won their second Stanley Cup, which Nine-Time Stanley Cup Champion Larry Robinson considered his “greatest day in hockey.”
