Islanders extend Coliseum farewell
UNIONDALE, N.Y. – These fans have already said their goodbyes to Nassau Coliseum, drank their last Bud Lights in the parking lot, sat in traffic on the way home for the final time.
They did it six years ago, when the Islanders packed up after more than 40 years on Long Island for the shiny Barclays Center, home of the Nets in Brooklyn, ditching their dueling suburban-blue-collar identity for Atlantic Avenue.
With Wednesday’s 6-2 home victory against the Bruins that clinched their second-round series in six games, the Islanders are assured of playing more NHL playoff games at the Coliseum – officially NYCB Live: Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum). The next two home games will be against the Lightning, making it at least eight playoff games these fans ever thought they’d watch again in this building.
By puck drop, Islanders fans will have “The Barn” rocking like a zoo.
Michael Leboff was convinced Game 4 was really going to be the last time he watched the Islanders in the building.
Down 2-1 in the second-round series, they’d lose the next two games, preventing Game 6 back at the Coliseum, Leboff thought. “That’s being an Islander fan,” the co-host of a team-centered podcast called “Islanders Anxiety” told USA TODAY Sports.
With about three minutes left in the scoreless first period, the Bruins’ David Pastrnak hit the right post when shooting on a wide-open net. Had that shot gone in, maybe it’s a different series. Instead, the Islanders would prevail 4-1, scoring four unanswered goals after an early second-period Boston goal.
But during the first intermission, Leboff met up with friends who said the gaffe was a sign the Islanders would win. Leboff wasn’t convinced, but he’s found himself more trusting under the regime of general manager Lou Lamoriello and coach Barry Trotz, who led the Capitals to the Stanley Cup title in 2018.
“This team has showed us not to be so fatalistic with the Islanders,” he said. “They’re such a composed, confident group. I guess old habits die hard.”
Besides, he’d done this before. After a standoff with local government officials, the team let its lease with the building expire after the 2014-15 season under former owner Charles Wang. The Islanders won their “final” game at the Coliseum on April 25, 2015, Game 6 of the first round against Trotz’s Capitals. A defeat in Game 7 meant what Isles fanatics like Leboff had accepted and expected: the end.
What should have been a celebration was more of a depressing countdown.
“We knew at some point they were going to get eliminated,” Leboff said.
This time, instead of Brooklyn, the Islanders will be moving 7.5 miles west on the Hempstead Turnpike to UBS Arena, a 17,000-seat rink in Elmont, across the street from Belmont Park, that is scheduled to open by next season.
“It sounds like they’re building the inside to basically be a spitting image of the guts of the Coliseum,” Leboff said. “So there’s a chance that that place could be just as good.”
Leboff likened this sendoff to a New Orleans-style funeral, a lighter affair with a brass band as part of the procession – a celebration. “The last time we said goodbye felt more like, I don’t know, an Irish-Catholic funeral or something,” Leboff said. “This is much more a party. It’s been an absolute zoo.”
Even without captain Anders Lee, the Islanders are in the semifinals for the second season in a row. The excitement, combined with the chance to give the Coliseum a proper send-off thanks to fortuitous timing of lifted COVID-19 restrictions, has given the building an energy it has rarely seen in decades.
At 6:38 p.m., 47 minutes before Game 4’s start, a full-throated “Let’s Go Islanders!” chant filled the concourse. During the game, members of the NFL’s New York Jets, notably offensive lineman Dan Feeney, shotgunned and rumpled cans of beer to charge up the crowd.
“This run has been like nothing I’ve ever seen,” Leboff said. “Because there’s actual promise of this team.”
To call Nassau Coliseum “a barn” these days is technically a misnomer. The interior received a face-lift during the renovation that began after the 2015 postseason. When the Coliseum reopened in 2017, the Islanders returned for an exhibition game and gradually for more regular-season games each year.
With the Islanders leaving as tenants, the space will continue to be used
for concerts and other entertainment events. The Long Island Nets, the GLeague affiliate of Brooklyn, will continue playing at the Coliseum. It’s a far cry from the New York Nets of the American Basketball Association, which won two titles (1974, 1976) while calling the Coliseum home with local star Julius Erving leading the way.
His jersey hangs in the rafters, right next to Billy Joel’s name – “34 sold out shows,” the banner reads.
The names of Islanders greats from the dynasty of the early 1980s are there: Gillies. Potvin. Bossy. Trottier. Smith. That core won four consecutive championships, a stretch not repeated in the four major men’s pro leagues. The Isles went 10-0 in Cup Final games at home during those years, and the Coliseum became known as “Fort Neverlose.”
“It was such a special place for me and my Islander group that I played with,” Hall of Fame center Bryan Trottier told USA TODAY Sports. “We all have our special memories of that place. I’m sure the fans do too. It reflects well on Long Island. It has its identity, but beyond that, I think it has its energy. I think that energy is real.”
The noise funnels down to the ice, Trottier added. Lip-reading became an essential skill – hearing the teammate next to you, even if he was screaming, was impossible.
“Here we are, basically 50 years after it opened, and the Coliseum stands ready,” he said. “It stands ready to bring that same, crazed din.”
The proper way to close down a barn like this.