-1b2d15a643519a9a.jpg
Devils television analyst Chico Resch, pictured with former broadcast partner Doc Emrick in 2010, got a scare Wednesday when his plane en route to Denver was forced to make an emergency landing in Iowa.
(Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
DENVER - Devils' MSG Plus television analyst Chico Resch was eating lunch and reading a Winston Churchill book while on a flight to Denver Wednesday when suddenly jarred.
Sitting across the aisle in another first-class seat was colleague Deb Placey, a locker room reporter.
They'd made it from Montreal to Detroit on a morning flight, then changed planes for the final leg of their trip to Denver for Thursday night’s Devils game against the Colorado Avalanche.
That's when the pilot made a startling announcement over the intercom:
“There’s smoke coming out of the wing on the left side.”
Passengers were told they were flying over Iowa and that their jet would make an emergency landing in Des Moines.
The plane landed safely, but there were some tense moments.
“It’s probably not the best thing that you’re going to hear,” Resch said Thursday after the Devils’ morning skate at the Pepsi Center. “I looked over at Deb and her little eyes were looking scared."
"Your life flashes before your eyes a little bit," she said.
Steve Cangialosi, the Devils' television play-by-play man and third member of the broadcast team, took different flights from Montreal to Denver, as did radio broadcasters Matt Loughlin and Sherry Ross.
As for Resch, he says had a similar scare one other time and handled this one well. The former NHL goalie who won a Cup with the Islanders continued reading during the 10 minutes it took for his plane to descend 30,000 feet and land at Des Moines International Airport.
"I said to myself, 'I'm finishing this book," Resch said. "I said, 'If we're going down, I’m reading the best part of this.' It was just before Churchill took over for Chamberlain and Hitler was going into Poland. I’ve been waiting for that part of it.”
Resch and Placey eventually made it to Denver safely … but not until 8 p.m. Colorado time – 10 p.m. in the East – because they had to wait about 5 hours for a different plane to arrive to Atlanta.
"It wasn't that bad," Resch said.