Islanders fans finally got their turn on Saturday night.
For a decade-and-a-half, they had watched new or rebuilt sports palaces rise across the region, from Newark to Queens to the Bronx to East Rutherford to Brooklyn to, yes, Midtown Manhattan.
But it never, ever was about them, fans of a team that has been looking for a modern home to call its own for as long as many of those fans have been alive.
Now they not only can say they have one, but can argue – and probably will – that they have the best one of all:
UBS Arena, the $1.1-billion facility that opened with the Islanders hosting the Flames before a crowd that spent much of the night oohing-and-aahing its way through wide concourses and architectural flourishes.
There was some partying along the way, too, in the arena’s many conveniently located adult beverage outlets.
Luminaries past and present showed up, including players from the Stanley Cup era of the early 1980s and their fondly remembered play-by-play man, Jiggs McDonald.
McDonald, wearing a blue vest and orange bow tie, emceed the pregame ceremonies, including a tribute to the late former owner Charles Wang.
Nicole Raviv sang the national anthems, reviving the impromptu tradition from last year’s playoffs of having the crowd sing most of the American anthem on its own.
Eight members of the Islanders Hall of Fame participated in the ceremonial puck drop, and fans chanted the name of the absent Mike Bossy, who is battling lung cancer.
It was lovely, and it was one of the biggest moments in Long Island sports this millennium. But this being the Islanders, the story naturally came with a stunning downer of a subplot.
Five of the Islanders’ regular skaters, including their captain, Anders Lee, and their longest-serving player, Josh Bailey, missed the game because of COVID-19 protocols.
Fans missed them, but surely not nearly as much as they missed being there.
Adam Pelech also was on the COVID list, meaning the Islanders were without their best two defenseman. Ryan Pulock is out 6-to-8 weeks with a lower-body injury.
So, to review: The Islanders and their partners managed to build a state-of-the-art arena during a pandemic yet were unable to escape its effects on one of the most important nights in the franchise’s history.
It was a cruel twist for a team that methodically built a consistent winner under Lou Lamoriello and Barry Trotz, timed in part to coincide with the new building – where there were many tickets, suites and sponsorships to sell.
Then the Islanders lost four games in a row in the runup to the opening, falling into last place in the Metropolitan Division, followed by the COVID body blow. Awkward.
But despite all that, it was a night on which to keep the big picture in mind, and that picture remains bright.
UBS Arena figures to look a lot better to free agents than Nassau Coliseum or the Barclays Center ever did, even more so now that the team has a permanent home address after years of uncertainty.
The building remains a work in progress. There will be glitches, missing details and whatnot for weeks.
Tim Leiweke, CEO of the arena developers Oak View Group, told Newsday on Wednesday that the new car smell will last for quite a while.
But the arena already is a long way from where Nassau Coliseum was on its opening night, when the Nets hosted the Pittsburgh Condors in an ABA game on Feb. 11, 1972.
Only 7,892 turned out to see the Nets win, 129-121, behind Rick Barry’s 45 points. But it was not necessarily for lack of interest. About half of the $28 million arena’s planned 15,500 seats had not yet been installed.
That October, the Islanders played their first game at the Coliseum, attracting a far-less-than-capacity crowd of 12,221 as the Flames won, 3-2.
The Flames moved to Calgary in 1980. The Islanders made their move Saturday, a mere eight-mile hike west of Nassau Coliseum, and a long overdue leap into a new era.
