Where It All Began: How I Became an Islanders Fan, Part 2

My family immigrated to the U.S on December 6, 1968 and 24 hours later arrived in NJ. Back then I had no clue what the game of hockey was. Coming from the land of Al Montoya you can imagine that the word hockey did not exist. As an eight year old I began to watch the Rangers on the black and white TV we had. I shortly after that got into figure skating which lasted about two months. As I watched this game on ice I replaced my figure skates for a pair of old tube hockey skates. Does anyone remember the old tube skates? I joined a few junior leagues and became a goaltender. At the age of 12 the NY islanders were born. I still needed to completely understand the game of hockey so the birth of the NYI came by at the right time.
It was this team of cast offs that really were not that good and had to grow, improve to succeed. So I took and interested to this new team, I figured I too could grow and improve right along with the 1972-73-74 Islanders. It was like free coaching.
I felt like I grew as a player by learning the game by watching what Al Arbour was teaching. Like I said free coaching, can’t beat it.
I was totally hooked forever once Chico Resh appeared, and the isles had solid goaltending. I became a life-long die-hard fan when the Isles beat the Rags in the 75 series. I was gutted by Lanny McDonald’s game seven goals in the playoffs. I was devastated in 1979 when John Davidson stole the series for the Rags, which left Dennis Potvin on his knees with his head looking down in ultimate disappointment. I was on cloud nine watching these 1972 cast-offs win four consecutive Stanley Cups. I was full of hatred when Hunter cross checked Turgeon in the 93 playoffs to kill the tam’s shot at a fifth cup. I have felt like taking many trips to the coliseum just to kick the shit of our then GM, Mike (he that shall not be named) for having the yearly end-of the season fire sales. AND most of all I would like to give a wood shampoo with a two by four to the person that had the audacity to come up with a fish sticks logo to replace the LI logo. I am now 51YO and yesterday marked the 43rd year anniversary of my arrival in the U.S. and still bleeding New York Islanders orange, white and blue.

But you repeat yourself. :-)

That’s a great story! I wish I was old enough to remember the team starting their build-up to the dynasty. Cheers!

I was raised on in Western Suffolk, and my family moved out from Brooklyn in 70. I can remember watching the Playoffs the first time the isles beat Rags in 75. I was very young so I really don’t remember the games, but i remember the Older generation that was raised in Brooklyn were trashing the team if not for any other reason then they were not the Rangers.

As some have said, with NY teams, some folks will pull for the Mets if the Yanks are out, and even the most die hard Giants fans had to cheer Joe and the Jets in 69.

But this was different, as if we were insulting all things that made the city great. Funny thing is, they rags hadn’t won a thing since they were 5 years old. Also funny cause they were defending a city that they had moved out of.

I was born on LI, and didn’t ( still don’t ) understand the alliance to a city you had fled for quality of life issues, so when I joined Dek hockey at age 6, I joined because the neighborhood team had those Blue, Orange and White jerseys. Beautiful, then, beautiful now.

35 years later, i’m still defending this team to people that feel feel we are an insult to all things NYC, but even with the Milstones, Spano, " he who shall not be named", and all the other wacky thing that have happened, I still follow everyday, still read old copies of the hockey news in august. Hockey is the only game i follow, and this the only team I’ll follow.

I love my dad, but he and I may as well be from two different planets. He grew up in WWII Italy, dodging landmines and bullets and scrounging for food to survive. I grew up in 1980’s Long Island. The most death I ever saw was in Super Mario Brothers and Golden Axe.

But he had a foreman at his job that was an Islanders season ticket holder. And when he couldn’t go, he would give the tickets to my dad and he would take me. I don’t remember my first game, but I think it was against the Flyers and I think I was about 8 or 9. What I do remember, in no particular order, were:

• Fights everywhere, mainly in the stands. Fans wearing the other teams colors were always ejected. I thought this was an official arena rule for years.
• Some guy next to us with a face as red as a beet yelling at Bossy, which to me now seems unfathomable. Maybe he was a Flyers fan.
• A player who everyone was excited about, and everyone was talking about and who may have had the coolest last name I’d ever heard: LaFontaine. My dad pointed him out to me on the ice and my eyes followed him everywhere. I remember him being very, very fast.
• About a hundred banners hanging from the ceiling saying “champions” of this, that or the other. The rafters were full of ’em. And that was before they retired their numbers. To this day, the sight of all those banners makes me smile more than almost anything in sports.

My dad enjoys sports, but he’s not really a fan of any team, per se. We watched the Giants win two Super Bowls and the Mets and Yankees win World Series, but he doesn’t necessarily “root” any of them. He watches Serie A soccer on Rai Italia, but doesn’t really care who’s playing or who wins. He always just watched to enjoy the games and because these were our home teams. This was a big thing for me. The Coliseum was the Islanders’ home arena and it was in our county and so that was my team.

(Sidenote: Taking a cue from my dad, I don’t hate the Rangers franchise, just that loud sub-sect of fans that feel entitled for some reason, despite their team having as many successful – and about four times as many unsuccessful – seasons as the Islanders. It’s just unfortunate that the Islanders were most terrible during the era of ESPN and the internet and the Rangers were most terrible during the Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson administrations. The seven seasons the Rangers missed the playoffs in the late-90’s/early 2000’s seems to get forgotten, too. All that being said, anyone who says they’re just “Rooting for New York” is full of shit.)

We went to an incalculable number of events at the Coliseum. Islanders games, a ton of wrestling shows, circuses, boat shows, concerts. As I got older, I drifted from the Islanders and got further into other, more esoteric, pursuits, a.k.a. movies, comic books and video games. I got back into them while in college, proudly wearing my Fisherman jersey on the St. John’s campus and buying cheap tickets with the student discount. After college, I was fortunate to work for a few companies that had ties to the team and was able to get tickets and passes to almost every home game for four or five seasons. Of course, they were the worst four of five season the team has ever had. But I still went every time I could.

The Coliseum is a crumbling, god awful place. The team needs a new arena as of yesterday. But I will no doubt miss it very much when it’s gone. It’ll always be the place where my dad and I really had common somethings to bond over. Even if we didn’t always “get” each other, we can always sit and watch a game and enjoy the action and talk about old players that we remember.

PS: This whole series is great. Thanks everyone for the stories and I can’t wait to read the next ones.

the year the Dodgers made my parents cry. Both diehard Brooklyn fans, they were not about to suddenly become Yankee fans. So I grew up with the Mets. We laughed and we cried at how bad they were. We were joyous in 1969. So much was made of the 69 Mets, the only thing at that time that compares was the Jets Super Bowl win. With the Mets at Shea Stadium, we could go to ball games.
So where do the Islanders come into this? I grew up on the Brooklyn/Queens border in Ridgewood. Then in 68, my parents took us to Hollis. A lot further from the city and the concrete jungle.
During my high school years, I started watching the Rangers when they were on TV. I did not have a job, so I didn’t go to any games. Then a team was announced for Nassau, to be called the Islanders. Another couple of years older, I had a job that paid a small amount of money, but I could afford Islanders tickets because they were cheap. ( I got paid $55 a week) I mean $6 on student games. Usually someone drove or I begged my dad to let me use the car. 3 or 4 guys on the way to the game and a couple of 6 packs in the car. (perfect when the Meadowbrook was at a crawl).
I waited on lines that went around the colesium to buy tickets for the playoffs. I was at the epic Ranger game where the Isles lost in a fight filled game 8-3.
From that point on, I was never a fan of the Rangers again. I’ve tried to go to games if the budget allowed it. And I remember when Bobby Nystrom made history for the Isles. I was so happy, I cried. it was broadcast on a pay tv service which i forget the name of, but it had one channel.
Now I am much older, and have even gone to Islanders games on the road. Not many, but I have.
Forever, I will remember when I was an Islander fan, and the happiness and sorrows I have felt.