From Dynasty to Disrespect: the Rise and Fall of the New York Islanders Part II: Founding to Dynasty 1972-1984

The history of the Isles begins in 1972, when the franchise was founded. In that year, the NHL's then-rival the World Hockey Association (WHA) sought to place a franchise (the New York Raiders), in the newly built Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, NY. In response, the NHL, with the help of William Shea (THE Shea Stadium William Shea), hastily awarded Long Island an expansion franchise (The Atlanta Flames were founded the same year to balance out the schedule). As a result, the Raiders were forced to share Madison Square Garden with the Rangers and quickly folded, making the NHL's efforts successful. After poor performance in their first two seasons, the Isles quickly became a serious playoff contender. However, although the team faired extremely well in the regular season, they struggled in the playoffs.

This soon would change. Fast forward to Game 6 of the 1980 Stanley Cup Finals, V.S. the Philadelphia Flyers. With the help of GM Bill Torrey and Head Coach Al Arbour, the Isles fought their way through the playoffs into the Cup Finals. In that game, something happened that will live forever in the memories of die-hard fans: "... Coming in with Nystrom. To Tonelli to Nystrom... HE SCORES!! THE ISLANDERS WIN THE STAAANLEY CUP!!" The Isles managed to win the most coveted of all hockey trophies after less than 10 years in existence. Not too shabby for a team mainly founded to thwart the WHA.

If that wasn't enough, 3 MORE Stanley Cups and 1 more Finals appearance followed, only to be thwarted by the Gretzky-led Edmonton Oilers. Again, not bad for a team founded under an anti-WHA agenda.

In a perfect world, the "Cup Teams" would still get the recognition they deserve so well. However, immediately following the Isles 4 consecutive cups, the Oilers would grab 5 in 7 years (the last won without The Great One), taking the focus away from the Isles Dynasty.

Despite this, even the Oilers could not win more than 2 in a row, and the Isles still hold the record for the most consecutive playoff series wins (19).

Alright, thats about it for now, stay tuned for part 3, when i focus on their Cup-less but still competitive years 1985-1993.

Here's some memories from the Cup Years:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvK3QLMSLOM

From Dynasty to Disrespect: the Rise and Fall of the New York Islanders Part I: Introduction

For this and an ongoing series of future posts, I want to chronicle the past and present of the most underrated and unfairly disrespected franchise of all professional sports: The New York Islanders. For the better part the past 10-15 years, the team has been seen as the laughing stock of the NHL. Giving up top draft picks, a string of losing seasons, and the well chronicled injuries (too many to count) of goalie Rick DiPietro have led hockey fans, especially New York Rangers fans, to ridicule the team.

Despite growing up going to games and enjoying them, I never really followed or took full interest in the team until these past couple of months. With my rejuvenated fandom, I began to see how other hockey fans truly felt about the Islanders. When I tell people I'm an Islanders fan, I usually get one of these reactions:

"You like the Islanders? man I feel sorry for you."

"You're a fan of the Islanders?!?!?! They suck!!"

"Who are the Islanders?"

I find many of these reactions to be shortsighted. In my next few posts, I'll argue that the Islanders' extremely poor reputation is highly exaggerated and unfounded.

In my next post in the series, I'll explore the team's HIGHLY overlooked and unfairly under-recognized 1980-1983 dynasty, sometimes fittingly known as "The Dynasty Time Forgot"