Islanders: Highlights From UBS Arena Ribbon Ceremony

It's genuinely hard to put into words just how much tomorrow is going to mean to fans of the New York Islanders. For the first time in my life, I'm 26-years-old, the team I love will be in a building that is up to league standards.

They're not the butt of the joke anymore, that was the way for the first 20+ years of my life but not anymore. UBS Arena will officially host the first ever Islanders game there in just over 24 hours. Today, they got the party started with a ribbon cutting ceremony.

Jon Ledecky Addresses the Fans

This one hits home. It's no secret, before Jon Ledecky and Scott Malkin came in the Islanders didn't have the best ownership situation. No disrespect to Charles Wang, who deserves immense credit for helping keep this team on Long Island, or the others preceding him but Ledecky and Malkin were always different.

From day one they made it clear that they would be investing in this team. There was a new practice facility, right up the block from Nassau Coliseum. Then bringing in Lou Lamoriello and Barry Trotz, the two biggest acquisitions this franchise has made in a very, very long time. Finally, landing the Islanders a new home.

No matter what happens under the watch of Ledecky and Malkin they will always be able to hang their hat on being the ones to end the arena disaster. UBS was built for the Islanders fans, and hearing Ledecky's comments today were reassuring. When fans enter the building tomorrow they will be star struck.

Honoring Tradition

The Islanders have one of the greatest dynasties in the history of sports. They should be proud to show that off and it's evident that they've done just that. The Hall of Fame is on display right when you go up the escalators. That's not all, there is also a beautiful display in the team store, showing off more history from the team.

It's so interesting to see the different styles of equipment and how it's changed over the years from era to era. The history of the team is one of the things that sticks out the most and it's not something we've seen in the past at our past stops for home arenas.

The Slip Up

And if you haven't seen it, the mispronunciation of Denis Potvin and Clark Gillies' names. Look, I get it it's a difficult thing for a politician to come in and speak on players or people that you may not know but how about a phonetic spelling on your script for me one time? That's speech writing 101!

Well, those are the biggest takeaways from today. Tomorrow, Islanders fans invade and man are we ready for it.