On Tuesday's, I miss games because I have to go to work early due to another person's schedule (which means I'll miss tomorrow's game against Pittsburgh, 7;30 starts often bring things down to the wire and anything after that is a no-hoper to see the game.
However, I made sure on Saturday night that I was watching for the jersey retirement ceremony of Patrik Elias and the ceremony took so long that the game was substantially delayed and I was able to watch just one period of the Devils comeback win over the Islanders.
That is the only negative note that I could make about this event because it might have been the best ceremony of this type that I have ever watched.
Teams have these events from time to time and (football usually isn't about retiring numbers due to the size of rosters, so they usually do an honoring of some type) they are usually nice and well done.
However, what they usually aren't are all that entertaining.
Don't get me wrong, they are always nice to watch as fans get to say their final goodbye with very nicely done tributes for the player being honored, but entertaining?
Not usually.
The exception became Patrik Elias Night in New Jersey where the 26 worn by Elias joined the four other numbers retired by the team and raised to the rafters (Scott Stevens, Scott Niedermayer, Ken Daneyko and Martin Brodeur) because it was entertaining.
Patrik Elias entered the arena through the stands alongside the fans and was given one of those plastic green hats that so many wears for St.Patrick's Day, which Elias memorably doffed after a St.Patrick Day win at the Rock.
The Devils brought in plenty of former players to speak to the crowd, but the highlight of the night was the speech by Elias, who was both emotional, open and witty with his speech (shown below via YouTube) with Elias stopping to take a "Selfie" with the crowd as well!
I really enjoyed where Elias acknowledged the huge offer that he was given by the Rangers as a free agent once and he decided to stay- believing in the team concept under the Lou Lamoriello years and how important that it was to him to spend his entire career with one franchise.
That might have been the best speech that I've ever seen at one of these events all told and I think Devils fans will be remembering this night for a long time.
As far my favorite Patrik Elias memory, it has to be his blindside pass to Jason Arnott to beat Ed Belfour in Dallas for the Devils second Stanley Cup.
Of the Devils three titles, it is the second one that means the most to me.
The first championship is special because it was the first, but in many ways, those Devils were a team that fell into that noted rhythm that means so much in any postseason play and the third title team was one that beat a hot goalie (I'm still ticked that J.S Giguere won the Conn Smythe), yet the title runs at that time were close enough that it wasn't too special.
Ah, but that second team...
Those playoffs were special because those Devils were a great team.
They finished just two points behind the Flyers in points (103) in the Eastern Conference (yet were seeded fourth because of the divisional setup at that time), took out the top-seeded Flyers in the Eastern Finals by breaking their heart coming back from a 3-1 deficit along with the hit heard round the world by Scott Stevens on Eric Lindros in game seven that essentially ended Lindros' career and then the defending champion Stars in a great six-game series.
It's that championship team that is my favorite and it was those playoffs that saw Patrik Elias step onto the stage with not just the assist to Arnott, but it was Elias that scored a goal that so many forget-his goal with under three minutes remaining to drop Philadelphia 2-1 in game seven with 20 points scored in those playoffs.
That team was my favorite of the three and a young (23 at the time) Patrik Elias was such a huge part of that team, so of course, he will always rank near the top of my favorite Devils.
Patrik Elias was a smooth player that will likely get his ticket to the Hockey Hall eventually and will go through another ceremony that will make him a hockey immortal and not just a Devils immortal.
Devils fans will long remember both his personality and play as a permanent part of the Devils family.
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