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On the Eve of a New Season | 10 TAKEAWAYS | New Jersey Devils
7.
A word I’ve heard a lot over the past three weeks has been ‘responsibility’. Coming into this season, given how last year went, and the amount of integral changes general manager Tom Fitzgerald made this summer, there’s a big sense of responsibility among the players to do right by their general manager and the work he has put in. And it’s not just from the returning players, it’s from those who he brought in to make the difference. They, too, feel that responsibility.
“He’s pushing, he wants to win. Fitzy wants to win,” Jacob Markstrom shared. “I feel like everybody wants the same thing, it’s just how we get there. And I think he, as a GM, has done everything in his power to make sure that’s possible. You’ve got to see that and take responsibility and you’ve got to come together as a group and show your appreciation. It’s not easy.
“You can say a lot of things in life, right?,” newcomer Brenden Dillon added. “Or you can say that you want to get in shape, you can say that you want to eat healthier, you can say that you want to work hard. But until you actually go do it, like, it’s pretty easy to say it. So I think for Fitzy, and of course, I’m just getting to know him, but he’s walked the walk that he said he’s going to do. And I think for all of us as players, when someone shows belief in you and whether they show confidence in you, all the different things like you want to follow through with that.”
8.
I loved Dillon’s hypothetical team when he was summing up Fitzgerald’s off-season pretty well: acquiring assets to make his team better. It was a well-rounded search, and Dillon joins a team now that has a true sense of everything.
“For our group, we know what our identity has been, and there’s a strength of us, and I think we want to continue to have that, but also add to that. For the guys who were brought in, you know, hockey teams need all different types of personalities, they also need different types of skill levels and all different types of just hockey players. You need a mixed bag. If you can have… I’d like to think they’d be good .. but if you have twenty Connor McDavids, it’s like you know, they’ll be good but sometimes you do need a little bit of everything.”
9.
This summer, Jonas Siegenthaler hosted his first hockey camp in Thailand. Siegenthaler is of Thai descent, his mom is Thai, and in fact, his parents recently relocated to live full-time in Thailand. I spoke with Siegenthaler about what the experience was like.
“They’re, they’re really proud of me. I’m the first Thai NHL player,” he said. “I don’t know when the next one is going to be, maybe 10 years? 20 years? The young kids there, they’re pretty good right now and they’re really good skill-wise, skating-wise. They’re actually, I would say better than kids in Switzerland. But their problem is they don’t have any games. That’s their main problem. They practice all week, skills. They don’t understand the game part as well. That’s the part that kind of stops them from developing to the next level.”
Siegenthaler said there are roughly only 600 registered hockey players in Thailand with roughly four junior teams. He’s hoping to find a way over the next few years to continue his camp and help the game grow to better heights but does say it’s ‘a difficult problem to solve’.
He shared this great story about a Q&A he had with the kids at the camp that really touched him.
“Some questions were so cute. It was this one little girl, she was sitting next to me in the locker room and she goes ‘Coach Siegs, one day I want to play in the NHL like you’. I was almost crying, you know it was just so, so nice.”
10.
The time has come for Seamus Casey to make his NHL debut. Head coach Sheldon Keefe confirmed it Thursday morning in Prague. The 20-year-old has done everything that’s been asked of him during this camp and has made his case; heard loud and clear.
And what a way to enter the NHL — on the Global Series stage in Prague. Casey will be just the 5th rookie to make their NHL debut at one of these international games since it was rebranded at the Global Series games in 2010. Overall, 36 players in NHL history have made their NHL debut outside of North America, but since the rebranding, Casey will become just the 5th.
WOODCLIFF LAKE, N.J. — Party City issued mass layoffs at its New Jersey headquarters, according to an email sent to employees.
All 850 Party City stores will be closing soon after nearly 40 years in business, according to CNN.
“I think it’s a shame because I grew up going to Party City as a child and it’s somewhere I used to look forward to for parties,” said Stephanie Campos, of New York City.
Campos was buying balloons at the Party City on West 14th Street in Greenwich Village when she heard about the chain’s reported closures.
“I’m thankful for the memories they gave me,” Campos said.
New Jersey Party City employees laid off in mass email
Corporate employees at Party City’s headquarters in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey received an email Friday saying it was their last day after the company made the decision to conduct mass layoffs.
The company recently came out of bankruptcy, but has faced tough competition from online retailers.
“The convenience, especially in a city like New York, the convenience of ordering what you need, having delivered,” said Jared Barnett.
Barnett wanted to visit his neighborhood store one more time for a final farewell.
“I came to say goodbye. A lot of memories, you know, from growing up to planning socials at my fraternity. So just to come back one more time,” he said.
Customers at the West 14th Street Party City said employees told them the location is closing by March 31. Merchandise is marked down in the meantime.
Party City did not respond to our request for comment.
A man from Maryland has been sentenced to 41 years behind bars in New Jersey for sexually assaulting a six-year-old girl in Burlington County, prosecutors announced.
Kevin Williams, 34, of Clinton, Maryland, was found guilty in July of two counts of first-degree aggravated sexual assault and four counts of second-degree sexual assault.
Officials said Williams must serve 38 years in prison before becoming eligible for parole.
The assaults occurred several years ago on multiple occasions, officials shared. Williams was taken into custody in December 2020 by the Maryland State Police.
Officials said additional details are being withheld in an attempt to protect the identity of the victim.
“The victim in this case endured abuse that continues to traumatize her to this day,” Burlington County Prosecutor LaChia L. Bradshaw said in a news release. “We admire the strength and determination she displayed during the prosecution, and hope the justice that was brought on her behalf is meaningful as she pursues a happy, fulfilling life.”
NEW JERSEY — Snowfall ranging from a light dusting to up to 2 inches is anticipated for New Jersey Friday night into Saturday, though some uncertainty about how the storm could unfold means that amounts may be higher in areas, according to the latest forecast.
Northwest Jersey is expected to see 1 to 2 inches, with “a slushy coating to up to an inch” of snow predicted for the rest of the Garden State, according to the National Weather Service. Light precipitation will come in during the morning into the afternoon, transitioning to mainly snow overnight.
A Hazardous Weather Outlook has been issued for the northeast corner of the state through Friday night, as travel conditions could become slippery.
Find out what’s happening in Across New Jerseyfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
“The danger is the snow can quickly erupt and come down at a steady clip in some areas during the afternoon and evening rush hour on Friday in the Northeast,” AccuWeather Chief On-Air Meteorologist Bernie Rayno said. This includes the metro areas of New York City and Philadelphia, he said.
Forecasters said there is some uncertainty with this storm depending on how it plays out. The National Weather Service called it “a difficult forecast,” and noted that snowfall amounts could be higher than forecast.
Find out what’s happening in Across New Jerseyfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
“Conditions around New York City are tricky,” Rayno said. “They can get a coating to an inch or two of snow from the clipper storm, perhaps a bit more if the coastal storm tracks farther west, or they could be in a rip-off zone where nothing to a few flurries occur.”
Saturday marks the first day of winter, and snow will end by late morning, forecasters say. Cold temperatures will linger through the weekend.
Here’s the latest forecast.
North Jersey
Friday: A chance of rain and snow before noon, then snow likely between noon and 1 p.m., then rain and snow likely after 1 p.m. Cloudy, with a high near 36. Northeast wind 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70 percent. Total daytime snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.
Friday Night: Rain and snow, becoming all snow after 11 p.m. Low around 29. Northeast wind 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80 percent. New snow accumulation of less than one inch possible.
Saturday: A chance of snow before 1 p.m. Cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly sunny, with a high near 31. Northwest wind 10 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40 percent. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.
Saturday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 14. Northwest wind 10 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.
Sunday: Sunny, with a high near 24. Northwest wind 5 to 10 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph.
Sunday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 7.
Monday: Sunny, with a high near 28.
Monday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 18.
Tuesday: A chance of snow. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 35. Chance of precipitation is 30 percent.
Central Jersey
Friday: Rain. High near 39. Northeast wind around 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80 percent. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible.
Friday Night: Rain and snow, becoming all snow after 2 a.m. Low around 32. North wind 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80 percent. New snow accumulation of less than one inch possible.
Saturday: A chance of snow before 1 p,m. Cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly sunny, with a high near 33. Northwest wind 10 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50 percent. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.
Saturday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 14. Northwest wind 10 to 15 mph.
Sunday: Sunny, with a high near 26. Northwest wind 5 to 10 mph.
Sunday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 8.
Monday: Sunny, with a high near 31.
Monday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 18.
Tuesday: Mostly cloudy, with a high near 38.
South Jersey
Friday: Rain. High near 42. North wind around 5 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80 percent. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.
Friday Night: Rain before 10 p.m., then rain and snow likely between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m., then a chance of snow after 4 a.m. Low around 31. Northwest wind around 5 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80 percent. New snow accumulation of less than one inch possible.
Saturday: A chance of snow before 1 p.m. Cloudy through mid morning, then gradual clearing, with a high near 36. Northwest wind 10 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30 percent. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.
Saturday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 14. Northwest wind around 10 mph.
Sunday: Sunny, with a high near 27. Northwest wind 5 to 10 mph.
Sunday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 7.
Monday: Sunny, with a high near 34.
Monday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 18.
Tuesday: Mostly cloudy, with a high near 40.
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