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Lighthouse Photo Gallery: Images from Islanders-Rangers at Yankee Stadium

It may have been unbearably, inhumanly, oppressively cold, but the Stadium Series game (and preceding Lighthouse Hockey meetup) made for some great pictures.

By Dan Saraceni
  • Dan's Pics It's tough to know what was more anticipated, the game or the meet-up at Stout. The contingent was small, but it was great to meet in person. Front and center was Keith “GFY” Quinn himself. Next to him (and out of frame) is Bryan2112. Sorry dude, I thought I got you in the shot.
  • THESE are your friends? Sitting to my left was Chris McNally, seen here in extreme profile close-up and great ski cap. Next to him (and again out of frame) was Mike, aka ICanSeeForIslesAndIsles. The distinguished older gentleman there is Mike's dad, Mr. ICanSeeForIslesAndIsles (who's actually an old school Rangers fan).
  • Winging it in Stout Finally, we had jbotte and Mark D, both caught in unflattering chicken wing eating posture. And yes, the stories of jbotte's overworked liver are indeed true. Soon, Eric David Morris would arrive and take position here. Funny observation: six of us were wearing Islanders jerseys in five different styles. Keith and Mike both had dark blue early aughts, myself (home dark) and EDM (road white) were wearing the current duds, jbotte was rocking the Smashing Pumpkins and Bryan had Kasparaitis in classic navy. A good cross section.
  • Shiny tickets are shiny. After an easy but packed D Train ride to the Bronx, we filtered out into an endless see of humanity. I couldn't get a great picture as I got caught in the wave. But trust me, there was A LOT of god damn people there. It was nuts.
  • Shake to activate Upon entering fans were handed these heat packs. Being an old Eagle Scout, I brought my own. But the consideration was nice. I'm glad they were good for 24 hours, in case the game went into a 4,300 round shootout.
  • Finally Now for the scenery from our vantage point in Section 328. Here's a view of the stage and giant TV. Islanders dancers and Ice Girls got a lot of attention all night.
  • I know you're crazy Here's CeeLo lip-synching. I think. The quality of the sound was lousy either because of the acoustics of the stadium, the speakers, the cold, the CeeLo or everything. You could barely make out his shitting on the Islanders. I heard on Entertainment Tonight that his coat was made from real Wampa fur.
  • Game on The rink and stage with the iconic (and transported) Yankees facade on top.
  • Hey, it's the Islanders Closer view. The ice looked... weird. Like it was wet and brittle. But no complaints from the players. Suck it up, Marty.
  • SHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT! Big tall shot with crowd. I was standing in the handicapped wheelchair area before the security guard shooed us out. They were doing it all night, until the middle of the third period when they disappeared. Yankee Stadium typical.
  • Commercial break And now a word from our sponsor – Can-Am Spyder, makers of the world's premier 3-wheeled motorcycles.
  • Spyder sense Can-Am Spyder. They look cool. Buy one.
  • America's Least Top Models But they need to choose better spokesmodels next time.
  • Being there And the big panorama. When you first get there, the view really is something else. It's almost good enough to make you forget a game is going on. Until your eyes turn to ice cubes, you can't stop taking it in.
  • Mike's Pics Here's the shots I took, which aren't many. We didn't have a lot of time in Stouts because of the LIRR train fiasco, and it was too friggin cold at the game itself. That's Bryan2112 and his friend Matt.
  • Bryan, Matt and Dan in Moulson blue.
  • You'll notice that this last shot was the opening faceoff. My fingers went on strike after that for unfair labor conditions.
  • Mark's pictures Keith doing the GFY
  • NHL injury expert Eric David Morris

Well, we didn't die.

That was my big takeaway from the Stadium Series game at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday night. At one point in the third period, with the Islanders down 2-1, legs aching and fingers going slightly numb, Keith said, "now, it's just a survival thing."

Yes, it was extremely cold out there, to the point where following the game was secondary to keeping one's senses about them. We had already lost Chris for a while in the first period when he went searching for a heat source, hot chocolate and a room that had actual doors that could be closed. He, Keith and myself huddled around a warm water pipe like Depression Era hobos during the second intermission. Even Mark's Ranger fan baiting had been dialed back just a little as the chills got worse.

By the third period, I had heat packs in every pocket, in both boots and both gloves and felt not a lick of heat coming out of any of them. I'll be returning the unused ones to Modells soon, possibly with a court order.

I give credit to those fans who were still rockin' and screamin' and drinking beers with bare hands deep into the game. As Chris and I agreed, we're not normally like those guys and a game like this wasn't going to turn us into them. But I admire those that can be in full throat for 60 full minutes in the arctic air.

However, when your fingers were capable, the outdoor NHL games did make for some extraordinary photos. This is a collection of mine, Mike's (ICanSeeForIslesAndIsles) and Mark's pictures. Hover over them for captions.

The pics also include shots of our all-too-short meetup at Stout in New York City. We need to do more of these.

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