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East Rutherford, New Jersey
Once in a lifetime let the water hold me down
Depending on how well you know me (or how many slideshows you have already read), you may or may not know that I am a hockey fan, and in particular, a New Jersey Devils hockey fan. In 2003, as in years before, I purchased strip seats to the playoffs, including all the way through Round 4. So on Monday June 9, 2003, I had a tickets to see Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals at the Continental Airlines Arena where (spoiler alert) the home team, my favorite team, beat the Anaheim Mighty Ducks 3-0 to win their third Stanley Cup in nine years.
Even though it has nothing to do with weekend travel, we’re still going to start the 2003 Weekend Trips Slideshow here at the Meadowlands with some pretty good pictures- they let me take my telephoto lens in, so even from high up in Section 231 you can almost see what’s happening.
We’ll start at warmups where, like all arenas, the friendly ushers let you stand by the glass. Here you’re looking at most of the all stars on the team, including Captain Scotty Stevens, Patrik Elias and super goalie Martin Brodeur. I don’t know if the players on ice were nervous, but I know as a fan I was nervous as hell all game.
In what is probably his last game (and probably my best hockey player photo ever, despite the not great lighting), 39 year old defensemen (or defenceman as our Canadian friends might say) Ken Daneyko looks suspiciously contemplative during warmup.
I’m skipping the game, partly because the photos aren’t that great and also partly because I honestly was too damn nervous to enjoy it. I’m also skipping the handshake line, the deserving Gary Bettman booing, the even more deserving Conn Smythe booing (don’t get me started on that) and skipping right ahead to the cup, with Scott Stevens taking his first captain’s victory lap.
I’m just a fan with bad seats (although the telephoto lens makes it hard to tell that) but damn I was exhausted just watching the game and almost not even sure how to react after watching all the Stanley Cup laps. As a hockey fan, it’s a singular honor and thrill to be in the arena for a Stanley Cup Final Game 7, and an even bigger honor and thrill to watch the home team win in a shutout. I knew, in that instant, that no matter how many games I go to in the future or how many games I watch on tv that I’ll never, ever be able to match this very moment as a fan. And will all those thoughts in my head as a guy way up in the cheap(er) seats, it’s damn near impossible for me to imagine what the players on the ice are feeling.
One last picture from Game 7, as the team gets set up to pose for their own group photo, all around the best trophy in all of professional sports.
We are now fast forwarding to Thursday October 16, 2003, and the team is back in the building ready to start another season. This time I ponied up the money for slightly better, lower tier seats to see the ceremony and the banner raising.
The banner makes its debut in an ok game against the Toronto Maple Leafs that ended in a tie (something that can happen in NHL hockey). But I am honestly still kind of spent from that Game 7 all those months ago, and coming to the home opener and seeing the banner raised felt like an extension of it, although also something that could never match the intensity of what I saw from those other seats back four months ago.
