I grew up in the 70's/80's as an Islander fan,living in Manhattan.My first season following the NHL was 1978-79.
That year we lost to the Rangers,who eventally lost in the Cup Final to Montreal.
The next 4 years were the best four years of a teenagers life.
A Dynasty was born...1980-1983 we won the Stanley Cup.
Not only did we win those cups,but we had to get thru the Rangers in years 1981,82,83,84.In 84 we lost to Gretzky in the Cup Final.
Islander/Ranger playoffs back then were brutal drag em out battles that were as close to all out War as I have ever seen.
What made it even more epic was the fact that I interacted with Ranger fans all the time....and the hazing was harsh!
Imagine going to school or work and having your friends/colleagues,exchanging barbs about the final score the night before.
BRUTAL.
I have always contended that was the best rivalry in all of sports....
Because we were in the same city and interacted with each other daily.
Imagine if the Cowboys were a NYC team and both teams had to go thru the other to win a Chip....
That's what it was like-for 2 weeks
I seriously remember playing sick after a rough loss...because I didn't want to get hazed at school by my Ranger friends....
Some of you old enough to remember please feel free to chime in...
But good stuff!
But good stuff!
Huh? Brooklyn and Queens are on LI.
Good times !
I was a die-hard Islanders fan going to the first game at Nassau Colliseum and as many after as I could get tickets to/friends to take me.
Anyway, one day, my buddy at work tells me he has two tickets for the Rangers-Islanders at the Garden that night and do I want to catch dinner and go to the game.
I had never been to as rabid an opposing arena as that game. My friend said "Do not yell if the Islanders score a goal or yell "Islanders Goal, Islanders Goal" as John Sterling was doing on the Islander radio broadcasts. LOL.
Anyway, we get to the seats and it smelled like a Dead concert! LOL. The guy sitting next to me (Stu) is a gorilla and he started to get suspicious when I didn't jump up when the Rangers scored. My friend Lou told me to "Fake it, FAKE IT! He will kill you!"
The Rangers built a lead and I thought his mood would improve and I started talking to him. Then I heard a big cry from the crowd and I saw a guy running around the ring by the red seats carrying a broken hockey stick with a burning Islanders jersey on the top chased by several half-hearted security guards.
During the second period intermission, the Islanders were down even more and there were whispers that an Islanders fan wearing a jersey was beaten into submission in the elevator and sent it to every floor on the way down.
With Stu now clapping hands with everyone, I finally admitted I was an Islanders fan, but said I wasn't obnoxious. He growled at me. Really growled at me. My friend said I was suicidal. And then it happened.....The Islanders started to come back and eventually tie the game.
Stu was just staring at me, his face inches from my face instead of watching the game. Eventually the Rangers won in overtime and my friend said that was the best possible outcome for me.
The only times since that I felt that scared and that much like I was in Afgphanistan was going to Giants-Eagles games at the Vet and the Linc. LOL
It was crazy in the 80's!
I can cheer for the Islanders or the Devils in that order.....due to Regional bias.
Similar to Nets...if Knicks are out.
I am also both a Met and Yankee fan.....but Mets over Yankees if head to head.
Only a Giants fan.....not a fan if the Jets
Despite both teams making the playoffs, and often advancing a few rounds, for the better part of the last decade, they haven't had a single playoff matchup. The new "balanced" scheduling doesn't help either and the two teams play less often than they used to.
The Isles-Rangers rivalry from 1979-through the late 1980s was white hot, probably the most intense rivalry in all of sports. Bigger than Yankees-Red Sox, Celtics-Lakers, Michigan-Ohio State, name it, none came near the ferocity of an Islanders-Rangers game, especially come playoff time where they met every year except one from 1979-1984.
After the Isles old guard retired and the Rangers won the cup in 1994 it hasn't come close to being what it once was. The Devils became the Rangers more significant neighborhood rival.
The Isles-Rangers rivalry from 1979-through the late 1980s was white hot, probably the most intense rivalry in all of sports. Bigger than Yankees-Red Sox, Celtics-Lakers, Michigan-Ohio State, name it, none came near the ferocity of an Islanders-Rangers game, especially come playoff time where they met every year except one from 1979-1984.
After the Isles old guard retired and the Rangers won the cup in 1994 it hasn't come close to being what it once was. The Devils became the Rangers more significant neighborhood rival.
Exactly
There was nothing quite like it
I ran into a neighbor and asked what time game 7 was for the Rangers.
He answered me at first then realized I was pulling his chain!!!
I had to exit stage right very quickly...
But good stuff!
I think it depends on your age...
I'm 56 and there's never been anything like it
1940!
:)
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Used to echo back and forth at the alternating arenas...and those chants got repeated between friends and family
1940!
:)
I still say that to my Ranger friends...they remind me about 1994...which I insist never happened...
But good stuff!
Back in the day it was an amazing rivalry. Definitely has cooled. I have a friend who is high up in the Panthers Org. Says they still chat Potvin sucks siding Ranger games here in S Florida.
Messier takes it up the a$#$##$..
It's really not difficult to delineate that Brooklyn and Queens are on Long Island and part of NYC and the rest of Long Island is not. The Islanders play in Long Island but aren't part of NYC.
It's a pedantic argument but it's the same argument that people make trying to exclude the devils from being included in discussions about NYC teams when they are just as close or closer to NYC proper than some teams with NY in their name.
Why would they let some scrub like Trouba be a captain? God they're a bunch of losers lol
I take Tommy Devito and his Ragu sauce way more seriously than them.
Those days are over. There's never been a Rangers vs. Devils rivalry. A long time ago Rangers vs Bruins and Rangers vs Flyers were a rivalry. Not anymore.
The only NHL rivalries at this point are playoff series. That's what the post 1995 strike NHL has become.
A lot of the regular season games are entertaining and the ridiculous point system keeps some playoff spots and seeding interest for most of the league's fan bases. But the 2 month Stanley Cup tournament has proven over and over again that playoff seeding doesn't mean much and that the playoffs are the only time that hockey games matter.
Those days are over. There's never been a Rangers vs. Devils rivalry. A long time ago Rangers vs Bruins and Rangers vs Flyers were a rivalry. Not anymore.
The only NHL rivalries at this point are playoff series. That's what the post 1995 strike NHL has become.
A lot of the regular season games are entertaining and the ridiculous point system keeps some playoff spots and seeding interest for most of the league's fan bases. But the 2 month Stanley Cup tournament has proven over and over again that playoff seeding doesn't mean much and that the playoffs are the only time that hockey games matter.
I think there was a devils-rangers rivalry in the mid 90s. It petered out towards the end of the decade but it was pretty intense for a few years. Afer that, either one team or the other has generally sucked so it has faded a bit.
2006?
I went to one this past March and you could hardly tell it was against a rival fanbase because it was so calm
The lasted a lot longer part referring to the Rangers vs Islanders for about a decade starting in 1975.
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Yankees vs Red Sox 2003-2004 level intense and it lasted longer.
The lasted a lot longer part referring to the Rangers vs Islanders for about a decade starting in 1975.
Yeah the Rangers Islanders rivalry from 75-85 was as intense as a rivalry can get, then the Devils-Rangers from like '92-2000 was pretty similiar. Since its pretty much been in name only except for when they have an intense playoff series like '12 or last year.
Lots of chirping between the fan bases. There was a Potvin sucks champ as my tickets were getting checked at the mezzanine and even the guy checking my tickets from Metlife got into it - "oh Potvin sucks? I thought he was a 10x all star hall of famer"
The established NY Team the Rangers hadnt won in decades,and to make matters worse,this Islander team,little brother figure,became a Dynasty....beating big brother along the way nearly every time thru 1984....
Not being a Rangers or Devils fan,I will defer a bit,but I cannot imagine it was more intense.
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Read this sentence again.
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Yankees vs Red Sox 2003-2004 level intense and it lasted longer.
The lasted a lot longer part referring to the Rangers vs Islanders for about a decade starting in 1975.
Yeah the Rangers Islanders rivalry from 75-85 was as intense as a rivalry can get, then the Devils-Rangers from like '92-2000 was pretty similiar. Since its pretty much been in name only except for when they have an intense playoff series like '12 or last year.
I'd say it was later than 2000 when it was still interesting. Devils fans were very obnoxious during those cup days, which I don't blame them.
Only thing I really remember that I found odd was their hatred (and still have it) for Lundqvist.
My GOD you can not see a post online about Henrik without a Devil fan commenting about Broduer and this and that. I remember every article back in 2012 that was about the success the Rangers were having was littered with Devil fans talking shit