It’s finally here! The home opener for the New Jersey Devils’ 2025-26 NHL season! We may be a week into the season, but nothing compares to that electric first game on home ice. Watching your team kick off a new season is exciting, but being there, feeling the energy in the arena, is something else entirely.
For some fans, this might be their 10th home opener. For others, maybe it’s their 100th NHL game. And then there are those experiencing the magic for the very first time, creating a memory they’ll carry forever. These are the kinds of moments that stay with you, etched into the heart of every hockey fan.
Just ask the Devils. They remember their first games, too. Some of them were lucky enough to grow up watching NHL games from the stands, others, the first time they laced up their skates and stepped onto the ice for their first NHL game, was in fact, the first NHL game they “saw” live.
Either way, the home opener isn’t just another game: it’s a moment. Welcome back to Prudential Center!
Nico Hischier:
My very first NHL game that I watched, was in Ottawa. I was 12 years old at the Pee Wee Quebec tournament. I remember sitting in the nosebleeds, I remember that. That was pretty big for me, sitting in the stadium at 12 years old; it was so big. And I remember, that was Taylor Hall's rookie season. I watched Hallsy with Edmonton.
It was just so kind of far away from me (in Switzerland). I remember it was just so impressive for me, everyone was so big. I don't remember a whole lot, but that I remember, sitting up in the nosebleeds, like woah, I can barely see down there! I just soaked it in as much as I could.
Jake Allen:
Living out in New Brunswick, Canada, attending NHL games wasn't exactly easy for Allen, so he never did go to one as a fan. But he does remember going to minor league hockey games:
It was the St. Johns Calgary Flames team and the Fredricton Montreal Canadiens AHL team. I went to those games, but I never went to an NHL game. My first NHL game was the game I played.
It was crazy, it was against Colorado and I played the third period. I was in St. Louis. Exhibition game. It was a wild experience. I played one period, I let in one goal, I still remember, Matt Duchene scored on me... no, maybe it was John Michael Liles that scored. Played the third period and then they sent me back to Junior after that. I was 18, I had just gotten drafted that year.
Brenden Dillon:
My dad was from Toronto and my mom was from Vancouver. The schedule was kind of weird back then, so any time the Leafs came to Vancouver we would go. My dad was always Leaf'd out head-to-toe and me, being from Vancouver, and watching Pavel Bure and all these guys, I was a huge Canucks fan. I remember those games. You take the Sky Train in, walk around, and those were just the coolest days.
I remember a game when my dad brought me when Atlanta was still in the league, when (Ilya) Kovalchuk was scoring like 50 goals a year. I just loved going to games. I still love watching hockey; I just love everything about it. I'm just so fortunate to do what I do.
Jesper Bratt:
It was my first actual NHL game. Even my parents, my parents' first NHL game that they watched was my first NHL game.
It made it so cool because every single moment was a new moment. I didn't know how the games were, even before the games started, the red carpet, all the stuff like that. I had never heard of the red carpet with fans, I didn't understand the time on the ice, the warmups was different, the ceremony, it was all just new. But I had a pretty good plan for myself from the coach that I work with how to kind of, when do I enjoy the moment and when do I sharpen up. My plan for myself was laid out pretty well, I knew when to enjoy the moment and when to find my time to feel like it was still a game, my first NHL game. I felt a really good balance there, I still look back at that game and I was just so in the moment too. I just really enjoyed every second of it, doing what I love, doing what I dreamed of, especially knowing my parents flew from Sweden to watch the game. That was really special.
Dougie Hamilton:
Hamilton, who grew up in Ontario, Canada, would go to Leafs games.
I went to a lot of games. I can't remember the first one specifically, but I would try to go to games where I could watch guys on other teams, guys that I really liked. I would watch them in warmups, try to see what they were doing, and I tried to catch pucks and all that stuff too. I think it really helped with the dream of being an NHL player.
Paul Cotter:
For Paul Cotter and his dad, going to Red Wings game helped prep him for his future as an NHL player and all the media obligations that come with it!
I don't remember my first game, but it's definitely on video. My dad used to have a camcorder or something and (on the way home) would ask me, kind of like a post-game interview, 'How do you think they did today?' and I would say something like 'I think they could have forechecked better... We'd do post-game interviews the whole way home.
One specific memory of going to a game that Cotter has is this one:
I do remember one game, might have been anywhere between 2004 to 2007. It was the Sharks at Detroit. It was overtime. I think it was maybe Joe Pavelski, he was on the goal line and faked the pass, shot it off his foot and I remember I was so (angry). I was like 'How do they not know that that's going to happen?!
