Friedman: Islanders Set To Begin Anew In Place That Once Defined The NHL In NYC

By Daniel Friedman
» More Columns

Ever since the Islanders took down their banners from the Nassau Coliseum rafters, most of the responses and reactions have focused on what's being left behind.

The Old Barn, the 516, and Hempstead Turnpike. The dynasty, the memories, and the impact on the surrounding local communities. It's undoubtedly a heartbreaking development for many, and for those who've been so fond of the team for all these years.

However, there's another side to this story, one that's hardly been told.

It is the story of a borough that -- like Long Island -- has lost multiple sports teams that were stitched into the very fabric of its various neighborhoods (and crammed apartment blocks). It's the story of Brooklyn and, for a change, it's a positive one.

You wouldn't think of Brooklyn as a hockey hotbed, but the borough actually played a major role in cultivating the sport's popularity in New York.

The Brooklyn Ice Palace, which opened before the 20th century, was home to several of the area's first ice hockey teams. Oddly enough, it was located a stone's throw away from Barclays Center, between Atlantic and Nostrand avenues. Another rink, this one on Clermont Avenue in the Clinton Hills section, was also home to many of New York's hockey forerunners.

Well before the NHL was even established, let alone cemented into the metro area, local teams played in the American Amateur Hockey League or, as Stan Fischler (who was born and raised in Brooklyn) says, it should've been called, the "New York-Brooklyn League."

And both before and after the city became a borough in 1898, there were documented heated rivalries between the clubs from Brooklyn and those from the other parts of the city. You might say they taught us what the Battle of New York was before we really understood and embraced the rivalry.

The NHL's first New York hockey team might have something to say about that, however.

I'm not talking about the Rangers, who were in fact the second team to settle in NYC. I'm talking about the Americans, one of the NHL's lost franchises, one that suspended operations in the wake of World War II and never resumed – though not by choice.

The owner of the Amerks, Red Dutton, had a grand vision to move the team to Brooklyn (it had been playing its games at Madison Square Garden and practicing at the Brooklyn Ice Palace). In fact, the team changed its title from the "New York" Americans to the "Brooklyn" Americans for what would end up being its final season, though it would continue playing its home games at MSG due to a lack of suitable venues in Brooklyn at that point in time.

"The response that has greeted our decision to have the Americans represent Brooklyn in major league hockey has been tremendous," Dutton once remarked. "I hope to make the Americans a team of which Brooklyn can be justly proud. And if we don't win, or come near winning, the Stanley Cup, I'll prove myself a real Brooklynite by shouting, 'Wait'll next year!'"

It was a noble idea and, had it gone according to plan, might've made for a very different NHL landscape than the one that exists in New York in 2015.

As it turns out, the Rangers weren't too thrilled about competing with another professional ice hockey team for fans, ticket sales and, evidently, the Stanley Cup (though there really was no contest on that front), so their ownership, which held considerable influence in the NHL boardroom, successfully thwarted any of Dutton's attempts to restart the franchise.

"I've talked to people in Brooklyn," Dutton said to the league's team owners in a 1946 governors' meeting. "They've got a site and they're ready to put up a $7 million building as soon as I get the word from here."

He was NHL president at the time, having replaced the deceased Frank Calder. He never did get the word from the league's board of governors.

But 73 years later, the Islanders are delivering on his promise and bringing a hockey team to Brooklyn. And while Barclays Center was not built for hockey, it's a far better option than what Dutton had to (and ultimately couldn't) choose from in Kings County.

There's an underlying connection between Brooklyn's early hockey history and the Islanders, and it runs from the Belt to the Southern State and Meadowbrook Parkways.

After Robert Moses planned the region's highway system, its eventual construction made an exodus to the suburbs possible. Levittown and other neighborhoods were built on Long Island, and families that had been packed into small apartments in Flatbush wanted and took the available new space. A home, a car in the driveway. It was the American Dream.

They took many things with them, including the sports they played and watched. Hockey was very popular in Brooklyn, and it wasn't long before that passion spread to the east. So, in a way, that laid the groundwork for the next generation to embrace the Islanders three or four decades later.

This won't comfort most Islanders fans right now, but if ever there was a place that understands what it means to have its heart ripped out, it's Brooklyn. The Dodgers were everything in that borough, and their departure is still a sore topic for many.

Of course, the irony is that then-owner Walter O'Malley wanted to build Ebbets Field's replacement on the current Barclays Center site.

Why? Because, as previously mentioned, a large percentage of Dodger fans had moved out of Brooklyn to the new towns and neighborhoods that were sprouting on Long Island, and therefore a ballpark adjacent to Atlantic Terminal would allow for easy transportation to games. There were an inadequate number of parking spots at Ebbets, so driving wasn't conducive.

Though not a baseball team, the Islanders represent a consolation prize in a certain sense. They're coming from Long Island to fill a void that existed, largely because of the population shift from Brooklyn to Long Island years ago.

Brooklyn is excited for this, too. Just ask Vinny Piccolo, who lives there and is as big an Islanders fan as you can possibly be:

"For starters, I've seen a noticeable uptick in Isles gear around my borough, and that should excite every hockey fan," he says. "New York City is the biggest media market in the world, and growing the game in her breadbasket of Brooklyn means growing the game for every culture. It's the kind of exposure the NHL desperately needs in 2015, and there is some real historical synergy at play."

He continued: "Being reunited with the Nets calls back to the glory days for both organizations, and from a further back perspective, it's kind of cool to have Long Island's team a few blocks from where the 'Battle of Long Island' was decided to ramp up the 'Battle of New York.'"

New location, new chapter, same old heritage. And, for Brooklyn, it's not just the same old heritage, but even more than it could possibly have ever hoped for.

Wait 'till next year, no more. Brooklyn's a major league metropolis once again.

Follow Dan on Twitter at @DFriedmanOnNYI