By Edgar Rivas, Jr. —

It took the New Jersey City University Student Government Organization to sponsor an event outside of campus.

Finally on April 1st, NJCU SGO took 25 students to a New Jersey Devils game vs. the New York Islanders at the Prudential Center in Newark.

“Somewhere at the beginning of March a New Jersey Devils representative contacted James Robilotta and myself, and asked for help to promote discounted tickets for NJCU students. At this point, I spoke to my adviser to confirm that buying tickets and having an out-of-campus event of this kind was doable, and he thought it was a great idea,” said William Candia, VP of Public Information. “The idea was introduced to the whole e-board at the next meeting and we all thought that not only SGO but NJCU needed this kind of events; thus, it got approved. We got the tickets and did our best to not only get the word spread among SGO members but most important of all to the student body in general.”

On March 29th, NJCU SGO posted on Facebook:

“Free tickets and ride to go see the NJ Devils game on Monday April 1st, 2013 at 7:00pm to the first 25 people that post a comment about SGO and/or NJCU on the NJCU Student Government Organization Facebook page. The first 25 people will receive a FB message with the details about this special event. 5 people of the ones who did not make it to the list of 25 people will be placed on the waiting/alternative list in case people do not show up at the last minute. (Tickets will be given on Monday at 6:15 right before the bus leaves from NJCU). Don’t forget to tell your friends about it!!!”

The first 25 students to post on NJCU SGO’s Facebook profile would be granted a free ticket and ride to the game. This was obviously different than the other events SGO has hosted because it was off-campus.

“The Student Government is mostly known for having on-campus events and we, the executive board, felt the need to step it up. Seeing that we were not only enthusiastic about off-campus events but also had the budget to buy these tickets, we took about 25 students to watch, for some of us including myself, an ice hockey game for the first time,” said Candia.

SGO Pres. Christian Diaz felt that this was a good idea from the beginning.

“It was a great idea from the beginning, since the executive board has been planning something like this for weeks now. The executive board wanted an off-campus event since the beginning of March,” he said.

The game featured two Atlantic Division rivals whose rivalry has spanned for over 20 years. The Devils entered the game 8th in the Eastern Conference while the Islanders entered 9th. This game was a must-win for both teams.

The Islanders dominated the first period with 2 goals in a span of 8 minutes.

The Devils however, gained a little life reducing the deficit to one in the second period.

But the Isles iced the game with a third period goal and the Devs never recovered.

“It was not the Devils’ night. They’re in 8th place in the conference and it’s a tight race,” said Irvin Alvarado, 20, Undeclared, West New York, who was among the 25 students. “You will see games where they’re victorious and game that they lose.”

Some of the students either experienced a NHL game or went to the Prudential Center for the first time.

The students sat in Section 208, Row 8 and cheered for New Jersey’s team as loud as they could. Overall, despite the 3-1 Devils loss, the experience was a good one.