Zach Parise Highlight Video
We stopped by the last regular season practice at South Mountain Arena, before Lou closes up the practice sessions to the public and preps the Devils with secrecy typically shrouding the NSA’s budget.
We caught this video of Zach Parise signing an autograph on my son’s (new) favorite hockey hat, doing a great job with a barehand on the silver Sharpie, balancing pen and hat against his other gloved hand. It’s not the prettiest nine seconds of fame, but it gives you a good idea of just how accessible the players are once they’ve poured out sweat (and sometimes blood) in a practice. That pinging sound you hear is Sergei Brylin working on his shot.
I don’t want to seem melancholy on the first day of the playoffs, but that was possibly the last Devils practice that I’ll be able to catch when I have fifteen free minutes. Starting in August, they’ll be using their new practice facility in Newark, decidedly more than a five minute drive away. There was always something fun about sharing the ice with the “big” Devils, even if we did occasionally have practices and games moved to accommodate a last minute skating session.
We’ll have to go on the road for our snippets of fame.