Forty years ago this weekend I was 26 years old , had just passed the Bar exam and was spending Memorial Day onFire Island. I spent one summer out there in a time share and just didn’t like it. I was sworn into the NY State Bar just a few weeks later in early June. And I have been admitted to practice law in New York for the past forty years. WOW!
But if almost equal importance forty years ago today, the NY Islanders won their first Stanley Cup. As original Islander season ticket holders in 1972. This was a big deal. My mom and dad were at the game and it is still important all these years later.
I started watching hockey when I was very young, maybe nine or ten years old. My dad wasn’t a hockey fan. He loved the Yankees and the football Giants. Hockey was not something we watched. But we had a next door neighbor, Larry Hallman good friends of ours. He was originally from Windsor Ontario, a Canadian and big hockey fan. He introduced me to the game
When I was young there was a local minor league hockey team, the NY Rovers and the the Long Island Ducks. Both teams played in the Commack Arena, a 4000 seat old dump of a venue. It was cold and damp and Larry would take me to games all the time. And I fell in love with the sport. He taught me the game. Taught me how to watch the game. And as I got older he took me into the city to see the NY Rangers. I just loved everything about the sport even though I never learned how to ice skate.
To this day Hockey is my favorite sport and when we had a chance to get season tickets to the newest NHL team in 1972, the N Y Islanders my father jumped at the opportunity. We held the same seats from 1972 until 2098 some 36 years. Since then we try to get to see 10games a year and I have passed this love of hockey down to Jessica and Jonathan. Hockey and the Islanders are part of who we are. We are big fans.
