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Brace Yourself

September 3, 2014, 2:19 PM ET [271 Comments]
Dan Petriw
New York Islanders Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
It is almost that time of year. A tradition that started last season is slowly starting to trickle into my social media feeds. We have and will start seeing it on this site as well. This is the time of year we start to hear all the crying and whining over the move to Brooklyn. I’m just warning everyone to hunker down, because there is a storm of anti-Brooklyn hate on its way.

I would be lying if I said the Barclays Center was an ideal home. It is not going to be a perfect fit. The scoreboard being off center is comical, there are obstructive view seats, there will be no place to tailgate, and the price of everything is going to go up. With all that being said, it doesn’t matter. I swear that some people in this fan base would rather have a losing team that can’t attract top flight talent, simply because it is five minutes from their house and convenient for them. Mikhail Grabovski and Nikolai Kulemin made it clear that Brooklyn was a large part of their decision to sign on with the Isles.

Let’s stop confusing the Nassau Coliseum with the one in Rome. While I love the place and I’m going to miss it, the place is a dumpster fire. It is loud as hell when full and 90 percent of the site lines are great but this ship has sailed and it is time for the fanbase to evolve and move to Brooklyn. I did not hear Devils fans complain when they moved to Newark, or Capitals fans complain when they moved from Landover into D.C.

All I want is what is best for the organization. If this team is making money in Brooklyn, which it should, I don’t care that it is not an ideal fit. Nobody is going to care about an obstructed view seat if the team is winning playoff series. We just need to accept it and change as a whole. It will no doubt be different but that doesn’t mean it has to stink. We just need to make it our own.

Another storm I see brewing is the future in fighting between “old school Islander fans” and “new Brooklyn fans.” I can see this storm from miles away. Look, anyone who is willing to wear that logo and cheer for the blue and orange is a friend of mine and it doesn’t matter if they have been fans for 30 years or 30 minutes. I grew up a Hartford Whaler fan. When I was team-less and made the questionable choice of becoming an Islander fan, I was never looked down upon by this great fan base. I was welcomed in and made to feel apart of the group. I ask that we all do the same for our new fans. Let’s be honest, we need as many fans as we can get.

I am just pleading with the fan base for perspective. There have been many who have said “Brooklyn might as well be Kansas City or Seattle.” To that point, be careful what you ask for. I went down that road and when the Whalers moved, it gutted me. It pushed me away from the sport. It wasn’t until the Sound Tigers came to Connecticut that I, again, found my passion for the game. The Sound Tigers will eventually move to Long Island and probably be replaced by the Wolfpack. That guts me but I am looking at the big picture. If the Islanders staying in New York means I have to lose my Sound Tigers, then so be it. All I want for us is to enjoy this final season at the Coliseum. Brooklyn will be an adjustment, I truly get that, but we just need to evolve as a fan base and make it our own. I am fully confident we can do that. As always for more on all things hockey please follow me on Twitter at @DanDanNoodles78.
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