Your First Ever Devils Game

D

devilsice

Member
#30
#30
Am lucky to be a day one fan, first game 30th November 86 as a young lad with my dad and his mate. We stayed in the same seats in block 1 until the old barn was pulled down! Never missed a season....except THAT one!

Here's a bit of an off topic ramble...apologies!

Feel privileged to have seen and enjoyed so much and still go to games 30 years on, but now with my Dad and also my little boy who is devils mad! Three generations of Devils fans in our family! Met some great friends and still see most of them down IAW which tells you how great our sport and community is!

Craziest thing I've seen? Loads! The Durham Wasps flight down that never came...got home about 2am and was one of the roughest games I ever saw. If I recall correctly they were sponsored by Cadburys Boost chocolate and when they finally arrived some of them came out throwing chocolate bars into the crowd to say sorry...most were thrown back at them! The skills of Dougie and Mo, Mike Ware and Mike MacWilliam, Ken Hodge Jr, Jon Cullen, Craig Weller....Todd Gillingham o_O...also the sheer enthusiasm of Lawless and Hope...gotta love it!

I remember the "King George old Timers (I think)" game when a rec team of vets from Canada came over with a player called John Wensink....the guy was like a looney with a better tash than Dougie Smail! They played in front of a full house! They loved it!

Saw ISL come and go and didn't realise what we had while it was there. The level in those days was incredible, but unsustainable!

Hockey is different now....but I still love it more than my little lad does though! Child at heart still! ;)
 
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T

the placid casual

Member
#32
#32
First game November 30th 1986 Ashfield Islanders, heard about it on CBC radio advert went down to the game and the rest as they say is history, 30 years later and still going - and still loving it.
 
Diafol

Diafol

Well-Known Member
#33
#33
My first ever game was a 4-1 victory over Nottingham on 4th February 2001.

Football ruled my sporting life at the time. My local Welsh Premier team had folded a few years before, and I'd hardly missed a home game in years.
I'd started going to Anfield again pretty regularly but that was an expensive hobby.

I'd enjoyed watching a few ISL games on Sky Sports, and played NHL on the Megadrive (!) That was enough to convince me to attend a game in person, and I was instantly addicted.

I started going to games regularly after the "season that never was" and I've had a season ticket since 2004.
 
Tyke Devil

Tyke Devil

Active Member
#34
#34
Finny said:
As it's the 30th Anniversary tomorrow I thought it would be interesting to see how many people remember the first Devils game they went to.
When was it?
Who was it against?
Why did you go?
What do you remember about it?
What made you keep coming back?
etc
Click to expand...
A relative newbie......Date was Devils v Caps on 20th November 2010. I went as I had booked a trip for the family to New York for my 40th and had already bought tickets for Rangers v Pens at the Garden as part of our week in NYC.

I had never seen a Ice Hockey game live and thought I should maybe take in a game or two before our trip. Googled Ice Hockey in the UK/Wales and much to my amazement (bear in mind I am English but live in Wales) I found out there was a team right on my doorstep. I literally had no idea!

We all went to the Caps game..and..as I say to everyone I meet now....you go to one game and you are hooked for life! I was clearly fortunate that I went to my first game at a great time for the Devils. Middle of the amazing unbeaten run and all that but I have to be honest what I loved was the atmosphere, the fans who quite obviously picked up quickly on my newbie status but were more than happy to explain what was going on, penalties, the icing rule, offside etc. etc. and I loved it was something we might be able to enjoy as a family.

We enjoyed it so much we were back for the 12-0 win over Stingrays before our trip to the States.

We ended up staying in the same seats for a couple of years as STH, then I volunteered for a couple of years. Now back to just watching. Honestly one of the best decisions I ever made was to go to the BBT before the NY trip. Ice Hockey fans, Devils or otherwise are fantastic. I turn up at away games and home fans come over and chat, we talk about the game in hand, the season, past seasons, refs, coaches but we always leave with a shake of the hand and an invitation to come over and chat next time we are in town.

Honestly...what is not to like!
 
Samael

Samael

Well-Known Member
#35
#35
1994, against fife. Can't remember the score, but we won. I'd seen the Devils on the telly when they beat Murrayfield at Wembley in the legendary penalty shoot out on grandstand and had watched bbc's face off that was on sporadically late at night, but after my first live game I was hooked, the tv really doesn't do the game justice. I really miss those Saarlander hotdogs too that they sold in that little kiosk in the corner of the Cauldron even if the buns were usually half frozen when they served them to you lol
 
august04

august04

Well-Known Member
#36
#36
1986 - I think it was in December, against the Bournemouth Stags - in a Christmas cup match. I know we played Slough Jets in a challenge game at around the same time too. My memory is a bit hazy, can't say for sure which came first. So many ups and downs over the years, a real roller coaster ride.
 
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