Though I’ve been a fan since 1986, Lou Lamoriello had me hooked on Devils hockey in 1993 — and here’s how

The Canessa Commentary
By KEVIN CANESSA Jr.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- 

Lamoriello

All these years later, these are two stories I love to talk about — and share. They’re both about Lou Lamoriello — and why as a kid, he had me hooked.

Flash back to 1992. It was the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, and the Devils-Rangers were playing each other. The series sold out rather quickly — and if you think a lot of Rangers fans come to Devils home games now, you likely don’t remember back then … when more than half the building wore blue shirts.

I remember how annoyed I was by this. And as a 17-year-old high school student, I was fortunate to have a fax machine.

I wrote a letter to Lou — and told him how disappointed I was the games sold out because of the infiltration on Rangers’ fans. I invited him to call me to explain how or why this happens.

He didn’t call.

But Jelsa Belotta, the team’s receptionist for many years — not sure if she’s still there — called. And what she said has stuck with me for many years.

“Kevin, Mr. Lamoriello asked me to call you,” Belotta said. “Mr. Lamoriello would like to offer you the chance to by up to four tickets for Game 3 of the Rangers-Devils series. As much as he’d like to give you the tickets, he can’t just now — but if you’d like to go to the game, you could buy the hard-to-get tickets by calling me back.”

I was floored.

And needless to say, I had two tickets to the game — one the Devils won — a few hours later. I will never forget that.

But it got better.

The night after Game 3, Belotta called back — and I was able to get two more tickets for Game 4.

All from a letter from me to Lou, one he clearly read and took to heart.

About to be forever hooked

The following year, after the Devils were eliminated in 5 by the Pens, the Islanders went on to the Eastern Conference Finals. At this point, the Devils had been eliminated in the first round each of the last four years. And in 1993, it was made all the worse by the fact a team that had no business being in the ECF — the Islanders — were still playing when the Devils weren’t.

So I wrote, again, to Lou — and asked him why I should remain a Devils fan following four years of futility.

A few days later, I got home from school — and I had a missed call (yea, I had Caller ID back then) from 201-935-6050 (the Devils) and a voicemail (yea, I had voicemail then, too) from the Devils.

“Kevin, this is Lou Lamoriello,” he said. “And I got your letter dated May 1st. Give me a call when you can so we can talk.”

And I did.

And for 30 minutes, the general manager of the Devils took my call — and chatted with me — like we were the best of friends.

“I need you to be patient,” he said. “We’ve got a great new coach coming in — and I think what you’ll see in goal is something you’ll like, too. And I assure you, it won’t be just a round we’ll be winning — it’ll be championships.”

A few months later, the Devils got to the Eastern Conference Finals — and were one goal away from the Finals. And one year away from Cup 1 of 3.

Here I was — at 18 — talking the legend, Lou. And he promised it would be better — quickly.

He let me vent. He let me talk about my soon-to-be-life in Newport, R.I., and he had me hooked forever.

I never would have abandoned my team — I loved it way too much back then, as I do now. But two phone calls — and 30 minutes on the phone, as a fan, with a man like Lou, had me hooked for life.

Because quite frankly, there has never been a better general manager in all of sports. No one has done more — with so little. And based on what he’s been able to do (as he has since 1987) — as few other GMs can do — there likely will never be one like Lou ever again.

In any sport.

And I couldn’t have been a luckier fan than I was in 1992 and 1993.

And still am, today, in 2013.