"You're talking about someone who's already experienced nirvana, and now this is a second visit to heaven," said Pear about watching his team win a second Stanley Cup in 2000.
Pear drew attention for his dedication to the team and was interviewed by several newspapers about his experiences going to the Cup finals. One of the articles was featured in the Bergen Record and details Pear and his wife celebrating the Devils returning to the Stanley Cup Final while trying not to wake their 21-month-old son. The placement of the article in the Bergen Record is in a unique spot that links Pear to a Devils great.
"It's a half page article that appears directly below Martin Brodeur's article. I don't know how I merited that," joked Pear about the honor of being featured on the same page as the Devils legendary goaltender.
Pear has some other remarkable ties to the 2000 Cup run. This February, Pear and his son attended the team's 20th anniversary celebration party for 2000 Cup team. Pear's son was 21 months during the 2000 Cup run and now is 21 years old. Pear was able to share a photo of him holding his son back in 2000 at the party, and his son was able to get a photo with Scott Stevens.
Pear's claim to fame doesn't stop with attending the Stanley Cup Finals, he also is an avid collector of Devils pins.
"I was buying stuff and one day I noticed 'gee I have a lot of these pins' so I just started what I thought would be a casual interest in collecting Devils pins because I thought they were cool. It has spun into an obsession."
"Pins are art the size of a quarter. The subject matter can be anything. In this instance it happens to be Devils, since my passion is Devils," said Pear. "These are powerful emotional messages contained on a canvas the size of a quarter."
Pear isn't lying when he says it's an obsession. He has collected over four hundred pins and each one has a story of how he got the pin, why did they make the pin, and what was going on in the world during that pin's creation.
