New Jersey in the Sandwich. Jersey RULES!

Vol III, No. 12

10 pm EDT.  Game six is up and down. Just like a bunch of the last games in this historic Battle of the Hudson. The even steven series continues.

Will NY stave off elimination and repeat their game six performance of 1994? Will the #6 seed be able to regain the lead? Or will this game wind up with multiple OTs?

The suspense is horrible and wonderful at the same time. People say that it is only a game. And yet, there is something more going on.  It's about identity. It's about insecurity. It's about the history of a peninsula sandwiched between two larger states. It's about New Jersey.

Until 1981, the Garden State had no professional sports franchise of its own. Garden Staters rooted for either Philly, New York or the Scarlet Knights of Rutgers. With a population of 8,000,000 it was perhaps the only large state in the nation without its own unique sports identity.

For decades, New York, the Empire State, has had three, count them, three hockey teams plus the Giants, Yankees and Knicks. Pennsylvania has had two hockey teams, two baseball teams, two football teams and one basketball team. In between, New Jersey was starved.

And then along came John McMullen from Montclair, NJ - the town where my family has lived for over 40 years, the town where I skated in high school. McMullen brought a team from Colorado and Kansas City the meadowlands. He imported the first Russian hockey players. His staff found a young, promising goalie. Within 15 years, the New Jersey Devils ascended to the top of hockey, winning the Stanley Cup in 1995.

Today, New York sports fans have a cornucopia of championships from the Yankees and Giants (who play in New Jersey but retain their original NY identity). Pennsylvania fans have gotten used to championships from Penn State, the Penguins and Steelers (and more lately, the Phillies).  New Jersey has had the Devils.

If the Rangers win tonight's game and go on to win one more in two days, New York fans will be delighted to add another championship to one of many.

If the Devils win, New Jersey will have one more victory to add to four previous eastern conference wins. Four. It's a small number. That's the difference.  Many versus four.

New Jersey has only one sports team. The Giants count, but they get to have parades in Manhattan.  The New Jersey Devils are pure Garden State. North of Trenton, there are a whole bunch of New Jerseyites who remain starved for success, and identity. The Big Apple and Ben Franklin's city cast long shadows.

At 10:40pm, game six is headed for overtime. Is this deja vu all over again?  Somebody will win tonight and hockey will continue - either on Sunday night at MSG or next Wednesday at The Rock.

Hockey Rules!

PS The world knows by now. 10:48pm. Adam Henrique scored the game winner at 1:03 of OT. Lundquist let it squeak under him. Henrique has probably sealed rookie of the year honors. THE DEVILS ARE 2012 EASTERN CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS. They return to the Stanley Cup Finals for the fifth time since 1995. It is a good day for the Garden State.