Some Quick Quotes…

Can’t share everything I got today just yet, I’d be stupid to waste all three/four features in the span of an hour…

But as I mentioned, I did speak to MacLean, Stoesz, Cohen and Castonguay.  Depending on how the game goes, I should have some post-game stuff as well.  But here’s some stuff pertinent to tonight…

MATT COHEN: “I see Matt Corrente is going to play tonight, and I don’t know what that means for me.  Maybe I’m out.  If you asked me yesterday, I thought for sure I was going to play.”

“You get a little bit excited, you’re playing in a nice building and stuff like that.  And it’s the Devils building, and we watched them last night when they were on the ice.  It’s a good feeling.  But at the same time, to be realistic, we’re still playing the same team.  I think that you want to say to yourself — I do — that it’s just another game.  I think there might be some extra butterflies tonight.”

ERIC CASTONGUAY: “This is great.  You see guys like Martin Brodeur play here.  It’s thrilling.  It’s going to be great to skate on NHL ice, this is going to my first game ever.”

JOHN MACLEAN: “They might be (awestruck over the playing environment), but they’ll have to get over it quickly.  (Laughs).  I think it’s a good thing for them.  We’re fortunate that the Devils are giving us the opportunity to use the big room, that’s fun.  They get to play a big, nice facility like this.  They’re getting treated like pros, which they are anyways, but they’re at the NHL level.  And these are things that these guys need to learn too, how to be pros.  It’s just a part of the process and learning curve and maturation as players.”

“(On if the Rangers-Devils rivalry translates to the AHL level) A little bit, but there’s different guys and the proximity and the closeness isn’t really there, so we don’t have the press that it gets up here.  Guys aren’t aware of the rivalry as much.  But from an organizational aspect, we know it and are aware of it, and we want to beat them any chance we can.”

Mike Ashmore, mashmore98 AT gmail.com

Morning Skate Photos

Matt Cohen

Tyler Eckford

Jeff Frazee

Nathan Perkovich

Real Quick From Lowell…Errr, Newark

Not sure how long this crappy free wi-fi connection will last, so here goes…

Thanks to Jeff Altstadter of the New Jersey Devils and Mike O’Brien of the Lowell Devils, I attended the morning skate at the Prudential Center and will also be covering tonight’s game.  Remember, tickets are $15, and you can sit wherever you please.

I spoke to Myles Stoesz, Matt Cohen and Eric Castonguay for features.  Probably the best interview I’ve ever had with both Stoesz and Cohen.  I also spoke to Lowell head coach John MacLean about some of your favorite T-Devils alums and the game at hand.  If I can squeeze in some photos and quotes before I get back to Newark — I’m in NYC after a lunch with my great friend Catherine — I’ll do that.  If not, it’ll have to wait.

And also, Jeff Frazee was the first goalie off the ice at the skate.  Bet he gets the nod.

Mike Ashmore, mashmore98 AT gmail.com