Arena Usage
Prudential Center primarily serves as the home ice for the NHL's New Jersey Devils hockey franchise, who previously played at the Continental Airlines Arena (now the Izod Center) from 1982 to 2007, as well as the NCAA's Seton Hall Pirates men's basketball team, who also played at the Continental Airlines Arena from 1981 to 2007. The arena hosts select home games for NCAA's Seton Hall Pirates women's basketball team, and the NJIT Highlanders men's basketball team. The arena was the former home of National Lacrosse League's (NLL) New York Titans franchise and the Xtreme Soccer League's (XSL) New Jersey Ironmen franchise until 2009. The Titans relocated to Orlando while the XSL folded in July 2009.
The arena was originally intended to be the home of the New Jersey Nets, but YankeeNets sold the team to Bruce Ratner, who decided he would relocate the Nets to the borough of Brooklyn in New York City. Lawsuits, economic issues, and a recession plagued the construction of the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. In the fall of 2009, the Nets played two preseason games at the Prudential Center, while considering a possible move there. After the success of the preseason games at the Prudential Center, reports began to surface that the Nets would indeed move to the Prudential Center for the 2010–11 NBA season. On February 18, 2010, the Nets finalized a deal to move to the Prudential Center, where the team played for two seasons before the Barclays Center was completed in 2012 and the team officially relocated to Brooklyn. The final NBA event at the Prudential Center before the Nets' move to Brooklyn was the 2012 NBA Draft, held on June 28, 2012.
Ottawa Senators' Chris Neil scored the arena's first goal, while Brian Gionta scored the first goal for the Devils in a 4–1 Ottawa victory. The first hat-trick in Prudential Center history was netted by Jay Pandolfo, in a 6–1 Devils victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on October 31, 2007, a game which was also the Devils' first home victory at the arena. The Prudential Center hosted its first Stanley Cup Playoff game against the New York Rangers on April 9, 2008. On April 15, 2009, the Devils won their first playoff game at the Prudential Center with a 4–1 win over against the Carolina Hurricanes. It wasn't until 2012 when the Devils won their first playoff series at the Rock, against the Florida Panthers. For select Devils home games, the arena's practice rink is open to fans after the game for public ice skating.
The Prudential Center also hosted the East Regional of the 2011 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament.
The WNBA's New York Liberty began playing home games at the Prudential Center during the 2011 season, due to ongoing summer renovations at Madison Square Garden, and plans to play there for the next two seasons.
In November 2007 and 2008, the Center hosted the semifinals and finals of college basketball's Legends Classic. The arena also hosts the NJSIAA Public A, Public B, and Private State Finals for high school ice hockey.
The Amerihealth Pavilion plays home to the Saint Peter's Prep Mauraders hockey teams as well as other local youth teams.
The New Jersey Ironmen played their inaugural home game at Prudential Center on December 1, 2007. A crowd of 13,429 was on hand to see soccer legend Pelé, who was honorary captain, take the ceremonial first kick. The Ironmen won this game 8–6 over the Detroit Ignition.
The UFC held UFC 78 on November 17, 2007; one of the first events to take place at the new arena. It marked the first UFC event in New Jersey in two years. It also played host to UFC 111, which took place on March 27, 2010. On March 19, 2011, it hosted UFC 128, and hosted UFC 159 on April 27, 2013.
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Famous quotes containing the words arena and/or usage:
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—Lawrence Kutner (20th century)
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