SUMMER SERIES: Doc’s 10-greatest Devils calls — #2 — The Championship to New Jersey! The Devils win the Stanley Cup!

Of the five times the Devils have played in the Stanley Cup Finals, Doc was behind the mic for just two of them — 1995 and 2012. Gary Thorne did the honours in 2000, 2001 and 2003 for ABC Sports. Doc had the clincher in 1995, which was broadcast on Fox (he also did Game 1 of the series v. Detroit that year, while Thorne had Games 2 & 3 for ESPN).

No. 2 on my list of Doc’s 10-greatest Devils calls — the first championship in 1995. The final seconds.

Coming tomorrow, what will be my top Doc Devils call of all time? Be sure to check back at 3 p.m. ET Friday.

Rooting for the NYR caused me more stress than I would have had were the Devils playing for the Stanley Cup

LOS ANGELES —

I tried.

I really did.

And I tried harder when it was challenging.

I really did.

And yet, it all fell apart about 10 minutes after Alec Martinez scored in double overtime to give the Los Angeles Kings their second Stanley Cup in three years. And it did so because a handful of people decided that when I said two weeks ago that I was pulling for the Rangers to win the Stanley Cup — for the sake of my uncle for the most part — that I was lying to get a rise out of people.

For starters, here is what I said before the start of the series. I won’t repeat the entire post, but will share the part that explains the most in the simplest of terms.

“So yeah, as I push 40, I stand here almost humbled. Maybe I have early-onset senility. Maybe it’s just that as guys who I love and admire — like my Uncle Mugga and Bob Gelb — get older, the chances of them getting to see one beyond ’94 are becoming slimmer. One thing is for sure — unlike 1994, if the Blueshirts win a Stanley Cup, I won’t be sulking for days on end with intense anger. Instead, somewhere, there will be a smile — a genuine smile. Plus, I mean, what’s better than hearing a pro-Rangers crowd loudly chanting ‘Marty,’ even if it’s not for the right Marty, right?”

Mugga

Pretty simple. Uncle Mugga is about to turn 55. Mr. Gelb isn’t getting younger. And there were a lot of others who I’d mentioned previously, as well, for whom I would be happy had the Rangers won the Stanley Cup. Unfortunately for them, the Kings won it — and it was the same ending, as it has been every other year in his career, for Henrik Lundqvist, a world-class goalie who just can’t seem to find a stretch of good luck that allows him to be the victor in the final game of an NHL season.

Yet it’s been the reaction of some — I won’t name names here — that has baffled me the most. It started before Game 1 was even played when one person spent more than an hour telling people on a Rangers forum that I was, indeed, “trolling” around, waiting for the first opportunity I could find, to change my avitar to something anti-Rangers, or to make a faux newspaper front page to rip Lundqvist for always seemingly ending games flat on his ass.

Wanna see the Rangers tonight? Got $103K? Plus, $1 million will get you into Game 6 — those should really sell no?

Gotta give these sellers some credit for trying, right? Only $103,338 per seat for Game 3 and a cool $1 million per seat for Game 6. I really wonder if anyone would ever pay these prices to see a single game?

Is this the last SC Finals on CBC in Canada?

CBC will broadcast at least
the next four Stanley Cup
Finals series in Canada
 after this year’s.

TORONTO —

Got an e-mail from a reader today asking whether this is the last Stanley Cup Finals that will be broadcast on CBC in Canada.

It might have seemed that way given Rogers Sportsnet’s new landmark deal with the league but it turns out CBC will have, at the very least, the next four Stanley Cup Finals series after this one.

Rogers does have the option, however, to simulcast the Finals on its networks in that four-year stretch. (Not quite sure the point of that since CBC is over-the-air).

After that?

It’s up to Rogers.

No one seems to know why Gary Bettman changed it from the Stanley Cup Finals to the Stanley Cup Final in 2006

The 1995 Patch

For whatever the reason, the NHL decided, in 2006, that the league’s championship series would go from being called to what most still call it — the Stanley Cup Finals — to the Stanley Cup Final. No S at the end.

Yet the reality is that prior to the 2006 Cup Finals (I will always write and speak it as the Finals), the final series of the year was actually called the Stanley Cup Championship (see classic logos), and not the Final(s).

The 2014 Patch

About the only people you’ll hear calling it the Final are the NBC announcers. Most others use the S.

So what is it?

The Stanley Cup Finals?

The Stanley Cup Final?

The Stanley Cup Championship?

The Stanley Cup Championships?

ONLY in the NHL. Thanks, as always, COMMISSIONER BETTMAN!

@DonLaGreca nearly had an M.I. calling Game 1 of the Finals

LaGreca

LOS ANGELES —

Don LaGreca is one of the nicest guys you are going to find in the radio business and in the NHL. The Devils fan is a sideline reporter for the Rangers Radio Network and fills in when Kenny Albert is unavailable to do radio.

And Kenny wasn’t available to do Game 1 as he was calling the game on TV for NBC since Doc Emrick had a death in his family.

What follows is LaGreca’s call of the final minute of regulation of Game no. 1 of the Finals. It’s one of the best hockey radio calls I’ve ever heard, hands down. The passion here was palpable. And actually made me nervous listening to it on a replay.

Be sure your speakers aren’t too high — or your might wake someone or shatter an eardrum.

The hat is tipped to Bob Mantz and Bob’s Blitz, a website you should be reading daily.

@KennyAlbert calling Game 1 of the Finals on NBC

LOS ANGELES —

Here at NewJersey-Devils.com, we’re big fans of the great KENNY ALBERT.

Albert will call Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals tonight for NBC.

Though we’re not sure who died, we are told it is because there was a death in DOC EMRICK’S family.

Albert was perhaps the busiest man in America the last two weeks. He called every Conference Final game — Kings/Hawks on NBC and NBCSN and the Rangers/Habs on the Rangers’ radio network.

In previous years, DAVE STRADER was NBC’s No. 2 guy this late into the playoffs, but this year, it was Albert, who joined JOE MICHELETTI and BRIAN ENGBLOM on the NBC broadcasts.