Fanrestrospective : What The Islanders Playoff Run Meant To Me

Mandatory Credit: Kevin Hoffman-USA TODAY Sports

Middletown, N. J. – As we continue our series of fan retrospectives, below you will find another outstanding piece on what the New York Islanders 2013 season meant to you, the fan and reader.

We truly appreciate the submissions coming in and we are hungry for more! So, let your voice be heard and submit your views in 300-500 words to eyesonisles@gmail.com so we can get your thoughts out there.

Also, we are still accepting applications for staff writers here at the site. The only requirement is a minimum of one article per week. Of course, you can always write as much as you wish. Please submit your interest along with a writing sample to the same email address as noted in the previous paragraph. Come be part of something that continues to grow and will soon become the go-to blog on the internet for all things Islanders! The summer promises to be an exciting time here at EyesOnIsles, for some reasons that are obvious and others that we have to keep to ourselves for now. But rest assured, this site is ready to absolutely explode onto the Isles blogging scene.

Submission courtesy of Dennis Patelis, New Jersey

I am a 62 year old man, who lived in Long Island for 50 of those years moving to NJ in 2001.

I had the pleasure as a young man of having season tickets from 78-84 section 313 : I believe row H(it was 30 years ago, LOL)

I remember the angst and growing pains of always losing in the playoffs when we were FAVORITES, the Lanny Macdonald OT goal in game 7 of the 1978 playoffs, then who can forget in 1979 the hated Rangers upsetting the 115 point favorite Isles with Denis Potvin sitting on the ice shocked and in tears. The NY Post headlines read Chokes or Chokers and Clark Gillies was so embarrassed he resigned as Captain, to allow Potvin to become captain. Even in 1980, we languished in 5th place, then the Butch Goring trade changed everything!. I remember as a 29 year old kid, walking in 80 degree heat on that May 24th and saw Bob Nystrom score the greatest goal in Isles history(I’m sure 35,0000 people will say they went too) and had the pleasure of seeing them win 4 Cups : 3 in Nassau and on TV against Vancouver.

Then the bottom fell out. Mike Bossy retired and Gilles along with Bryan Trottier left for other teams. We were just good enough for 10 years but were never serious for the CUP. I started a family when I moved to Smithtown in 1990 and my son William had no idea of the Isles past.

I took William to 50-100 games from 1996-1999, knows as the Ziggy Palffy fisherman jersey last place years, and he loved the team even though they were at the bottom every year.

When we moved to New Jersey, we were so excited over the Toronto Series but again were let down in game 7. Now 10 years later my son is 23, lives in Maryland and still loves the Isles. When the Isles clinched against Carolina in the shoot out loss, within 15 seconds we called Stub Hub and ordered tickets for games 1 and 2 this playoff round.

I can tell you I was never so excited to hear the crowd roar with each Isles goal and I listened to the first goal by Matt Moulson on a Youtube clip in game 1, and it was so loud my laptop was shaking. After the win in game 4, my wife Jennifer, who also attended, and I departed back to NJ and purchased online game 6 tickets. Although they lost , my son William and I were stunned and nearly in tears and were part of the 11,000 who stayed to cheer the Isles on. The feeling we have both have, those like me who experienced a Dynasty to only go 30 years with not much glory, and to those like my son William, 23 years old and NEVER SAW THEM WIN A ROUND, much less 19 like me, feel so excited about the Isles future.

I cant wait for next year to start and I hope for all fans 35 years and under you one day SOON have the same feeling I had when Nystrom scored in OT and I almost fainted from excitement.