YES YES! chant made its way from Uniondale to Brooklyn.
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“Good crowd, still a loud building, so it was fun”, Islanders center Frans Nielsen said of the team’s first game at the Barclays Center, their new home after spending their first 43 years at the Nassau Coliseum on Long Island.
Kane also scored in the second period, Artem Anisimov added a goal and Corey Crawford stopped 34 shots. “Our fans were into it, behind us like they always are. But certainly jealous watching them go through that”.
“Everything was really similar, as much as it could be”.
Barclays Center hosts an extensive variety of events, including premier concerts, major professional boxing cards, top college basketball, family shows, the Brooklyn Nets and, starting this season, the New York Islanders. Fans can take pictures in a photo booth printing Islanders Opening Night photos, as well as against a commemorative backdrop complete with sticks and helmets as props for interactive photos.
The fans cheered loudly when they saw the Coliseum in the video.
Still, the players know their new home won’t help them win any more games. “Our first game I don’t think we liked our full effort”. “Everyone is talking about, ‘Does this feel like home?’ If the fans are like that every night, it definitely will”. “There’s not a lot of distractions when you come here so you can just focus on the game”.
There will be a Hockey Hall of Fame exhibit on the Barclays Center concourse, consisting of Islanders memorabilia dating from the famed Stanley Cup dynasty to today. Later, during a ceremonial puck drop, legends Bryan Trottier, Bobby Nystrom, Mike Bossy and Billy Smith were at center ice donning jerseys, like they had done so many times before in the old barn 29 miles east.
Led by a partnership with Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams, the Islanders are implementing the Borough President’s Community Pass program, through which the Borough President’s office will distribute vouchers for $10 tickets to each game to community groups in Brooklyn to offer kids the chance to attend Islanders games. Schreiber is a Long Island native who previously served as on-air talent during Islanders radio broadcasts on WHRU 88.7 FM. “It’s not the Coliseum, but it’s the next best thing”. That’s all that matters.
Defenseman – Boychuk Calvin de Haan, Travis Hamonic, Nick Leddy, Ryan Pulock, Brian Straitand Marek Zidlicky.
“We don’t talk about it anymore, and it’s a routine that we have to go through as professionals”, said Islanders head coach Jack Capuano. “The people here have embraced that well”.
Sometimes breaking ground is often about overcoming those early stumbles, though, and maybe the best review is to parallel the on-ice results: the Isles at least got a point out of it. “I’m going to liken it to a new pair of jeans: You like them, but you’ve gotta break them in”.
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It felt like the same vibe, only in a different venue. “It’s a good vibe”.
