An Introduction | 40 YEARS WITH STAN

I've been around New Jersey hockey for a long time although not as far back as the days when Hobey Baker dazzled with his stickhandling work at Princeton University.
Hey! I'm not that old!
But, I'm old enough to remember when the Garden State boasted a team in the Eastern Amateur Hockey League called the River Vale Skeeters. Not only that but I saw them play at the old Madison Square Garden against the Rangers' farm team, the New York Rovers.
The Skeeters were owned by a rich River Vale farmer named John Handwerg who equally loved hockey and golf. So the handy Handwerg did the natural thing and built a neat hockey rink and a golf course right behind his arena.
I mention this for a couple of reasons. For starters, I happened to be a Skeeters fan even though I was a mere seven-year-old from Brooklyn who subwayed to The Garden to watch them.
Their bright green jerseys were about the neatest things I'd ever seen and their red-headed forward, Roy Storey, was my kind of hockey player. "Red," as he was known, stood tall, strong -- with searchlight-type eyes -- and who could intimidate you in a blink. (By the way, I wasn't too crazy when Red Storey, the referee, was blowing his whistle.)
Unfortunately, the Skeeters were forced to fold at the start of World War II and it wasn't until decades later, when I returned to see more Jersey hockey. There were the Larks and Knights, playing out of the cockeyed Cherry Hill Arena where the ice turned into a hill at one of the blue lines.
But when it came to cockeyed hockey in the Garden State, nothing could top the rink I, personally, played on in West New York. All hockey rinks -- as you know -- were meant to be rectangular -- with one exception in the universe, West New York, New Jersey.

I kid you not; it was a perfect square; I figure about 90 feet long and 90 feet wide.
How could I not adore a rink where you could score by slap-shooting the puck from your goalie crease all the way down to the other net! I loved West New York because I scored my only goal in the history of me there and also split two fights; individually, with a couple of brothers who didn't appreciate my cross checks from the side -- okay, okay from behind!
All of this is a roundabout way of saying that -- apart from playing hockey -- my favorite pastime happens to be telling hockey stories whether it be in books -- my Devils book, "Pain And Progress" -- magazines newspapers, but especially on this here wonderful New Jersey Devils website where I'll have a season of stories to hail the franchises 40th birthday.
My insightful Devils pals, Marc Ciampa and Amanda Stein, came up with the title, "40 YEARS WITH STAN." The moment they suggested it to Yours Truly, I liked it so much that I didn't even mind that I didn't come up with it.
I guess I don't have to tell you that I was there when the Devils arrived in East Rutherford from Denver 40 years ago and I've followed them ever since in fun ways and not-so-fun-ways. One of the best was my first go-around on tv.
The network was called SportsChannel in those days and its play-by-play guy happened to be Al Albert, kid brother of Marv Albert and the uncle of the current all-purpose (hockey, baseball, football, you-name-it) Albert named Kenny.
We once did a game at Chicago Stadium when Doug Carpenter coached the team. Carpy did something that night I'd never seen before or since. He objected to a Devils penalty and waved the zebra over to the bench to underline his fury.
The ref obliged, skated to the bench and leaned over to better hear what Doug had to say. (Really you had to see this.) But Carpy never opened his mouth. He stared with his steely eyes for five seconds, ten seconds, fifteen seconds and, around the 20th second, the coach pulled back. It was a 20-second complaint right out of Mel Brooks' classic,"Silent Movie."
Although Al Albert considered himself a basketball guy, he took to hockey the way Jack Hughes took to the ice. We had a lot of fun together despite Al's departure after one season to do NBA baskets in Denver, of all Mile High places.
Thereafter I was lucky and luckier doing Devils tv. How could I not adore working alongside the prince of play by play, Gary Thorne, and the ever-witty and brainy Peter McNab. And by the time MSG Networks absorbed SportsChannel, there i was, side-by-side with a terrific trio; Doc Emrick, Chico Resch and the greatest straight man I ever knew, Matt (Call Me Matty If You Dare) Loughlin.
Frankly, I never thought anyone could follow Doc Emrick's act after the play-by-play king exited New Jersey to do NHL Network television. But Steve Cangialosi pulled of the trick; not by trying to be the second Mike Emrick but rather by staying with Steve.
You get my drift, I've seen plenty, worked with plenty and even got to feed Bubba, owner Dr. John McMullen's pet golden retriever, a bagel for breakfast.
My stories will be funny -- like the day my Philadelphia buddy, Father Ed Casey, inadvertently walked across our set while Matty Loughlin was doing a live interview with Johnny Madden. (You should have heard our funniest-in-the-world producer, Roland Dratch, re-invent expletives-deleted in the tv truck. Then again, maybe you shouldn't.)
The tales will be traumatic as well. How about me being just a few feet away from the legendary "Have Another Donut" face-down featuring coach Jim Schoenfeld and the zebra-like ref Don Koharski.
Then there were the melodramas. All I'll tell you now is that my favorite was my personal involvement with John MacLean's 1988 OT winner in Chicago that hoisted us into the playoffs for the first time.
And tragedy, for sure. I'll probably weep a few crocodile tears when I tell you how close I was to Jacques Lemaire and his troops after they dropped Game Seven of the 1994 playoff to the Rangers; not to mention the Game Six loss that nearly got me divorced from the lovely Shirley.
But enough about me; these 40 YEARS WITH STAN really are all about You, the fans, re-experiencing the thrills and chills rooting for New Jersey's first and most famous hockey team.
It's about Marty Brodeur scoring a real playoff goal in Montreal; it's peewee Brian Gionta turning Bruins goalie Tim Thomas into a human pretzel with an amazing playoff goal in Boston. It's Troy Crowder beating up Bob Probert and the "Seinfeld" star, Jerry Stiller, actually doing stand-up with me as the Devils galumphed off the ice after a period one night.
It's Matt and The Maven enjoying a funny Roland Dratch line so much that we laughed for one full minute and, miraculously, didn't get fired by MSG the next day. It's playing roller hockey with tailgating fans in the vast Continental Airlines Arena parking area. Not to mention fun and lockjaw interviews with the likes of Scotty Gomez (fun) and Bobby Holik (jaw-dropping when he ripped Gomer for a dumb play.)
Having said that -- and these -- let me assure you that I've just scraped the top of the 40 YEARS WITH STAN iceberg.
I daresay, my dear fans, we're gonna have a heckuva lot of fun!
(And just between us pals, I can't wait!)
See ya soon.
Stan