Can't believe it's 34 years ago, watching it live on TV and seeing Bobby Nye put that backhand into the net, unless you saw it or were at the game...to see the Islanders from their very beginnings to that moment, unbelievable.
Rex, I'll never forget that day for as long as I live. My family and I were up at the Concord Hotel up in the Catskills with some family friends for the Memorial Day weekend. I was 17 and a senior in High School. We were out doing vacation stuff, but I went back to the hotel room to watch the game by myself. Though I had gotten my Dad into the Islanders, and some of the family friends were Islander's fans, they wanted to do vacation stuff, so I went back to the room by myself. By the 2nd period, the room was full with my Dad and other Islander's fans from our group in the room. I remember all the yelling and screaming, the excitement when the Isles were up 4-2 going into the 3rd, the dread after Philly tied it and the Isles had to go into OT. When Nystrom scored that goal, all the yelling before the goal, I remember some of us yelling, "go, go, go" when it was the 2 on 1 with Tonelli and Nystrom, so when Nystrom scored, it was a moment of dead silence, maybe a second, maybe a tenth of a second, but there was this loud explosion of a scream after we all looked at each other and realized what just happened. Then there was yelling and screaming and hugging. My Dad's friend grabbed the lamp, and started running up and down the hallway like he was skating with the Cup.
Now at 51, 34 years later, it was still one of the most wonderful moments of my life. The year prior when we choked against the Rangers in the Semis, I remember how horrible I felt walking the school hallways being taunted by the Ranger's fans. A year later, I walked those hallways with the biggest smile on my face, some Ranger's fans actually came up to congratulate me. It was a wonderful feeling, that amazingly stayed with me for 4 straight Cups. When you are passionate about a team, in any sport, it's such an amazing feeling when they win it all. I hope in my lifetime I get to give you all a virtual high five if the Isles could ever give us fans another Cup.