Were last year’s sellout numbers simply a fluke? Sure seems so

NEWARK – Just a season ago, the New Jersey Devils sold out 18 of 24 home games at the Prudential Center. The sixth game of that season was the first non-sellout dating back to the season before that’s next-to-last home game. (They sold out the final game of the year and all of their games through the Stanley Cup Finals).

Now, one game into the new season, the Devils were 1,001 short of a sellout. Attendance was 16,624 and the capacity is 17,625.

This is a huge disappointment, based on several factors:

• First, it’s Opening Night. Opening Night should sell out everywhere (though it often doesn’t in the NHL).

• It was a Friday night. No excuses about it being a school night or anything of that nature at all.

• The game was against the resurgent New York Islanders – and there’s finally a rivalry developing between these two teams.

We wonder: How did the Devils sell out 18 of 24 last year? Was it a fluke?

• New ownership, new players, new goalie, new direction – there was a lot for people to get to see last night – and not too many did.

I don’t want to come across like some Oliver Stone conspiracy theorist, but there are a lot of questions based on the team not selling out last night.

• Was last year simply a fluke? Were people simply excited after the prior year’s run to the Finals? See how good attendance was by reading this Wall Street Journal piece from February. http://goo.gl/51pPRm

• Was it simply a matter of people missing hockey last year after the prolonged lockout?

• Were the Devils seriously marking down ticket prices – or giving loads of tickets away – to induce people to come to the arena for games last year?

• Would attendance have been anywhere near as good as it was last year if it hadn’t been a shortened season?

Truth be told, I think it’s a combination of all the aforementioned. The Finals run of 2012 and the shortened season made the Devils hot. 

And I wonder, now, if we’re going to see crowds of 11,000 on weeknights again this year? And if we do, I think it’ll be safe to say last year was an utter fluke.

But I am willing to give it time before making a total judgment. It is, after all, just one game. The problem is, however, that it was Opening Night – and if Opening Night is any indication of what lies ahead, I’m not so sure I want to see that.

Odds and Ends

Devs fans will need to get their share
of saying the word suck elsewhere now
that the team’s goal song’s been changed

The Devils finally got rid of “Rock & Roll Part II” as their goal song. But it seems fans at the game last night weren’t pleased by it at all. I mean, chanting “suck” about the Rangers and “swallow” about the Flyers isn’t enough.

These fans need to chant “you suck,” after every freaking goal. 

I wrote it before (http://goo.gl/IYHUhy) – and I will say it again – that chant is sophomoric and it makes every single solitary Devils fan look idiotic. Management made the right call getting rid of the Gary Glitter song – and I hope they don’t cave in here. 

Sure, the new song may not have been the best choice – and perhaps they do need to consider choosing a better one – but if they go back to “Part II,” all they’d be saying is sure, we’re fine with our fans looking and sounding like complete and utter asses.

To make matters worse, there were some on Twitter last night who said they wouldn’t stop bitching about the change until the Glitter song came back.

Here’s to hoping said people are bitching for a long, long time. Get over it. Move on.

Find some other way to make yourself look like a sophomoric ass.