In his latest post on the “Inside the Devils Blog,” Chris Westcott today announced that njd.TV will be airing a special hour-long show featuring the reunion of the 2003 Stanley Cup-winning team. The show will air August 12 at 8 PM ET on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Twitch as well as the Devils’ official website.
The show will be produced by njd.TV and is presented by Plymouth Rock Assurance according to Westcott. The show will see the 2003 champs “gathering together for a special Zoom reunion.”
Westcott said the reunion will have “more than 12 members” of the team present, “including Martin Brodeur, Scott Stevens, Ken Daneyko, Patrik Elias, Scott Gomez, and Mike Rupp. The event is hosted by Devils radio play-by-play team, Matt Loughlin and Chico Resch.”
According to Westcott, “the group will discuss that particular season” of 2002-03 “and the steps they took to becoming champions. All of the players have great memories of that season, including many overtime victories throughout the playoffs, tales about the late and great Pat Burns, and many funny stories from the road. Follow along in this historic reunion of the New Jersey Devils’ all-time greatest teams.”
This is a cool idea to remind people that the Devils exist during the return to sports. Major League Baseball is starting up, the NBA and NHL are finishing the regular seasons and will be going into the playoffs – the NHL without the Devils – and other sports will be continuing or starting up as well. This is a busy time and any way to engage the fanbase is great.
The only problem I have is that the Devils need to start creating new “greatest teams” and moments soon. Nostalgia for the past is great, but you do not want to live in the past. Living on old glories is not a way to make new fans and this team needs to get in gear soon.
I realize we have hit a rough patch, but sooner or later, you have to push towards the future and stop cashing in on nostalgia. The fans will eventually catch on and stop tuning in as you sort of “oversaturate the market.”
But I don’t want to blast this too much. I will be watching and re-living some old times – better times – and hoping we can have them again sooner rather than later.