New Jersey Devils Fan Spotlight: Melissa From Maywood

At Pucks and Pitchforks, it’s our mission to connect all New Jersey Devils fans with our Fan Spotlight pieces. Last week we met John from Middletown and the week before Alex from Wayne was featured. To see all the Fan Spotlight participants, click here. This week Melissa Mulvaney from Maywood, NJ is our featured fan. Melissa, 24, is one of the biggest Travis Zajac fans there is. The only other people who are huge fans of his that I know of are myself and Jamie who was our first Fan Spotlight featured fan. At the risk of turning this into a Zajac love-fest, let’s learn a little about Melissa.

She is New Jersey born and raised – no wonder she became a Devils fan. Melissa graduated from Montclair State University in 2013 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Education. At the moment she is a nanny, which she is totally grateful for because she says it fuels her Devils addiction. Can’t argue with that logic. I know most of us have a problem with wanting to spend all our money on Devils gear or tickets.

Let’s hear what Melissa has to share with us:

Melissa Mulvaney takes a relaxing seat at center ice at Prudential Center.

1) What made you become a Devils’ fan?

Luckily, I grew up around hockey. One of my cousins played for the NJ Rockets and I attended most of his games, but didn’t take a liking to any specific NHL team. In 2008 I began dating my current boyfriend, who was also the captain of our high school hockey team. I attended all of his games, and lucky for me he was already a Devils fan. I’m often thankful for his influence on my love for hockey. I actually never saw myself as the type of girl that would follow sports, that is until the final home game of the 2008-2009 season when I received 4 lower level tickets to the Devils-Hurricanes game from a family I was babysitting for. They won the game 3-2, and it was love at first face-off after that.

2) What are your thoughts on the season?

I’m not negative whatsoever, but their terrible mid-season record is something I don’t enjoy looking back on. I would be a whole lot happier if they were headed to the playoffs, but I guess this is what happens when your stars leave and you allow a bad coach to stay longer than he should have. I believe if Peter DeBoer had been fired sooner, the team would have picked up more wins and would really be a part of the race battling for the Wild Card spot. The coaching change didn’t really help their inability to score goals, but it’s a step in the right direction. Now, I’m looking forward to (hopefully) a good offseason for this team! With a few additions and subtractions, mostly in the forward department, the Devils should prevail as a playoff team once again. I’m really counting on Lou Lamoriello to make some good moves and I’m dying to see Cory Schneider take his incredible talent to the playoffs.

3) Who is your favorite current Devil? Favorite former Devil? Why?

My favorite current Devil has been and always will be Travis Zajac. For unknown reasons, Zajac was the player my attention gravitated towards while at my first Devils game. Christmas of that year I got his jersey as a gift from my boyfriend, and to this day it will always be my go-to lucky jersey. Although this season hasn’t been his best, he’s a solid player.

My favorite former Devil is Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond. Just kidding! My favorite former Devil is really Jamie Langenbrunner. Unfortunately I haven’t been a fan long enough to witness the prime-Marty years, or to see a huge Scott Stevens hit. Jamie was a great leader, and I especially loved watching him play with Zach Parise and Zajac on the ZZPops line.

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4) What’s your favorite part of attending Devils games? If you haven’t been able to make it out to any games, do you have any plans of doing so in the future? What are you looking forward to?

My favorite part of attending Devils games is the overall atmosphere. The Prudential Center is my second home… I could probably drive there with my eyes closed (we at Pucks and Pitchforks don’t advise that). I’m addicted to the happiness and excitement I feel when I jump up and celebrate a goal being scored. I’ve met some pretty amazing people, and I’ve also managed to turn some of my friends into Devils fans. There’s no better feeling than being surrounded by people who are passionate and love the same team/sport as you!

5) What’s the most memorable game you’ve ever been at, or remember watching on television?

The most memorable game I’ve ever been to is a tie between Zajac’s first career hat trick against the Panthers on March 31, 2014, and Zajac’s OT goal against the Panthers in the first round of the 2011-2012 playoffs. Being at both of those games was pretty special, because I had never seen a hat trick live, and I had also never seen an OT playoff goal live. So, thank you Trav! (I told you she loves him).

As always thank you Melissa for taking your time to share your experiences and thoughts with us. If you would like to be featured, don’t hesitate to contact us on Facebook or Twitter.

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