Meet the Devils Which is more frightening the legendary creature known as the New Jersey Devil or a player for the New Jersey Devils The first is a myth but not the second The Devils are a very real ery real team and very frightening if you happen to be wearing a different different color uniform The Devils do things a little differently than other teams in ms in the National Hockey League NHL From their coach to to their top scorers to the last man on the bench they work k extra-hard to blend their strengths in ways that make them difficult to beat There are no superstars on the team Night in and night out everyone plays as if their jobs depend on it This book tells the story of the Devils After years of struggle and uncertainty they discovered the key to championship hockey Along the way the team made stops in two other cities But once the Devils arrived in New Jersey they finally felt right at home David Clarkson Patrik Elias and Mattias Tedenby jump for joy after a big goal during the 2012 13 season 5
Glory Days Does every big city in North America deserve its own professional hockey team In the 1960s and 1970s people sure seemed to think that way The NHL expanded from six teams to 18 A new league called the World Hockey Association WHA also started adding 12 more teams to the sport One of the new NHL clubs arrived in Kansas City Missouri in 1974 After considering several names the owners settled on Scouts after a famous statue in Kansas City The Scouts would one day become the New Jersey Devils Before moving east however the team actually headed west first After two seasons a mere 27 victories and a lot of empty seats the owners of the Scouts sold the club to a new group of owners in Denver Colorado It was the first time in more than 40 years that an NHL team switched cities The team was renamed the Rockies for the 1976 77 season The club tried to draw fans with the promise of rough play Many of 6
Colorado’s best players including Wilf Paiement Barry Beck Lanny McDonald and Chico Resch were physical and fearless leaders Unfortunately the team had trouble finding a winning formula and the losing continued The Rockies played for six seasons in Colorado without a winning record In 1982 a businessman named John McMullen bought the Rockies and moved the team to his home state of New Jersey The club was renamed the Devils New Jersey rebuilt around hardworking young players including Kirk Muller John MacLean Pat Verbeek Brendan Shanahan Bruce Driver and Sean Burke In 1987 88 the Devils made the playoffs for the first time and then nearly reached the Stanley Cup Finals This unexpected success helped the team win over New Jersey sports fans It also sparked a hockey craze among boys and girls across the state Once-empty ice rinks were soon busy from morning to night Over the next 15 seasons the Devils won the Stanley Cup three times They were champions of the NHL in 1995 2000 and 2003 The key to their success was a defensive style that slowed down LEFT Barry Beck starred for the team during its days in Colorado ABOVE Kirk Muller helped hockey gain popularity in New Jersey 7
