New Jersey Devils - Bye Bye Vuvuzelas

For many years, for good or for bad, the vuvuzela has been part of the New Jersey Devils Hockey / Prudential Center experience. It appears those days may be over.

The Prudential Center always, to the best of my recollection, had a policy in place prohibiting noise-making devices (i.e. Whistles, Air Horns) for New Jersey Devils games. It was not uniformly enforced, as fans routinely brought in stadium horns, cowbells and the like.

Traditionally, the Red, White and Black have been welcomed to the ice from the locker room with cowbells while the vuvuzela seemed to have two primary purposes. One was as part of the “Kill, Kill, Kill” chant activated while the Devils were in their own zone during the penalty kill. This cheer was popularized, if not invented by, the former Diablos supporters group in Section 122 in the Rock. The second use was to play the Devils’ former goal song, Rock and Roll Part II, which for a couple of reasons (the performer and the accompanying colorful language added by Devils fans) was considered offensive by some. However, it also must be noted, the goal song was and is beloved by many.

At this year’s preseason games, according to many fan boards but also seen observed by me personally during the two preseason matches I attended, it appears the vuvuzela is now aggressively banned by arena security. Both “Kill Kill Kill” and “Rock and Roll Part II” are no longer powered by or enhanced with a stadium horn. I thought I may have heard a cowbell or two in the stadium, although a person in my section who always has one did not ring his Wednesday night. I’m not so sure about the cowbell element of the noisemaker topic.

This enforcement action has seemed to caught the attention of many Devils fans. There are some who hated “Kill Kill Kill”, and are thrilled to see it go. There are many who don’t like the new goal song and are pretty angry about management trying to take away the “unofficial” playing of the former celebratory anthem. And there seem to be about equal numbers of fans who either want profanity part of, or prohibited from, the in-arena experience. That seems like an odd thing to write, I get that, but I think it is accurate to say there are separate contingents of fans, some hoping for a “family friendly environment” versus others who might anecdotally say “Hey, this is a hockey game!”.

I myself am of mixed feelings. I liked some of the vuvuzela uses, disliked some of the others. I do worry for the club that the Devils’ wish to create a family friendly environment could go a bit too far and drive away some of their core, the supporter who wants to come to a game, have a few drinks, hang out with their buddies and carry on a bit. I’m not one of them, I come because I love hockey and want watch the game and act in civil manner. But it’s obvious to anyone who attends a decent number of games at the Rock each year, there are different strokes for different folks and an NHL hockey game is not Disney On Ice

Old traditions sometimes die hard.

It should be interesting to see how it all works out. A full arena is a different dynamic from a sparsely attended preseason game. Determined people can be a force to reckon with. For example, might fans decide just to be like English soccer supporters and bellow out in their own voice the “non-management favored song” enmasse? Who knows? If they did, it would probably be impossible for security to enforce. Or, will those “traditions” just die on the vine and go the way of the Diablos, the Devils Dancers, Score-O and other Prudential Center experiences.

I guess we’ll see in a couple of weeks when the real season begins.