Leaving East Rutherford Never Easy

       The last time I've seen a live New Jersey Devil game was on Tuesday, June the 10th, 2003...the last night we held Lord Stanley's Cup aloft. It's been five long years since I’ve been able to see my beloved Devils in any form of live action at all. More than half a decade since I've seen Brodeur stop a puck or Patrik Elias skate down the wing and carry the play into the offensive zone. I missed both Scott Stevens and Kenny Daneyko's numbers being retired. But saddest of all I've completely missed the transition from the Devil's I know and love, to the team we've become. You see five years ago I moved from New York back to the United Kingdom, where I was born. After graduating from Syracuse University I decided that I wanted something different out of life. I'd seen so little of the world, and with both my parents immigrating to the U.S. from Europe two decades earlier I wanted to experience something else...exactly what I wasn't quite sure, but something inside me was telling me that Europe might hold the answer.

       Many members of my family had already relocated back to Europe and with no one with any blood ties within 3000 miles of NYC I too felt that I should take the plunge and head back across the pond as well. I did have mixed feelings however. Although I was born in the U.K. I had been raised on Long Island. There was certainly no denying that. My nasally Italian American accent as thick as any other guy growing up in in the heart of Nassau County. I was certainly not European...

      Then there were my Devils. I’d lived and died with them for fifteen plus years. I hadn’t missed a game in more than three, and was as die hard a fan as anyone I’d ever met. I’d been driven to tears in ‘95, although not quite as badly as loveable Mile Peluso, and had woken my entire house when Arnott beat Belfour for our second cup. I’d made the trek down Route 17 from central New York to East Rutherford on many an occasion, and had even had the privilege of interviewing my hero, Doc Emrick during that summer for a paper I had written during my final semester at Syracuse. We talked about hockey, broadcast journalism and of course the Devs for the better part of half an hour. Making matters worse was the fact that it was September 2002 and the hockey season was just round the proverbial corner. I had my Directv dish, my new flat screen television, had just purchased ESPN's Center Ice package and was primed and ready for another exciting season. Doc’s brilliantly expressive voice was still fresh in my mind. Everything was in place for another great year….maybe even a cup. There were many things I knew I’d miss about the states but as crazy as this sounds, I knew there would be nothing I’d miss more than my New Jersey Devils.

       Sure I loved New York pizza, but heck England, certainly Italy would have pizza. (I wouldn’t find out that NYC pizza was better than it’s Italian ’version’ till it was too late, but that’s a whole other story) I’d miss my friends and girlfriends but then I was sure I could meet and make new ones….ones with more interesting accents, more exotic names and even more exotic physiques. I might even miss American television, but from what I was told by anyone and everyone I’d known who’d ever lived in Europe…Europeans watch more American ‘tele’ and film than they do their own, so that certainly wasn’t going to be an issue. But then there were the Devils and the idea that there might not be any hockey. Sure I knew there was hockey in Europe, but it certainly wasn’t going to be NHL hockey and more importantly, Devil hockey! But I had to go. I knew I would have to be adult about things and accept the fact that the Devils were going to have to be something I'd have to sacrifice. After all, as important as hockey is and was; I certainly could not let it, or even my beloved Devils prevent me from doing something I’d always wanted to. Little did I know just how much I would miss them, but more importantly, exactly how much time and effort I was going to have to exhaust, just to follow them.   

part 2 to follow...