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Weird Islanders: The Podcast! – Cocaine Hockey in Brooklyn (with guest Will Stevens)

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The “Ironclad lease” might not have lasted that long, but our memories of this era have.

Along with Will Stevens of Isles Meet Ups NYC we celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Islanders’ sojourn to Brooklyn’s Barclays Center and some of the players we connect to that era.

In October of 2012, the Islanders announced that they would start play in Barclays Center for the 2015-16 season, ending 40+ years of glory and struggle at Nassau Coliseum. Even the most hardened haters were encouraged by the news… for about five minutes. Before they moved into the corner of Flatbush and Atlantic Avenues, there were already problems; building was critiqued and criticized, the people in charge didn’t have a clue, and the fans weren’t happy while the players tried to make the best of it. It wasn’t long before an exit strategy – which turned into UBS Arena, back on Long Island – was needed.

Still, we have a lot of nostalgia for this very strange period in franchise history, especially for some players who made their only appearances with the Islanders during it. Whether they were disappointing trade deadline acquisitions, “veteran” presences, minor league call ups or constant healthy scratches, these players best represent the bastardized, black-clad, hipster bearded, Brooklyn version of the Islanders that, in spite of everything working against it, actually had some success.

Thanks again to Will for not only chatting but coming to us with the idea for this super duper-sized walk down Memory Lane. You can follow the Isles Meet Up groups on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook to find the one closest to you.

WEIRD BONUS MATERIAL (there’s a lot)!

  • Davidson scored more own goals against the Islanders (2) than he did for the Islanders (1). And those own goals came in back-to-back games! Here’s the first, against the Panthers, that went off his skate. The second was a nice tip past his own goaltender, Jaro Halak, the next night against Ottawa.
  • Man, where do we start with J-F Berube? In the beginning… he led Manchester to a Calder Cup in the AHL, was claimed off waivers by the Islanders from the Kings in 2015 as Jaro Halak was hurt.
  • The thing was, Halak wasn’t hurt for long and Berube almost never played. He got into just seven games that first season and 14 the next, spending most of this “prime” either sitting on the bench or in the press box because the team was afraid they would lose him if they put him on waivers. This did not sit well with Halak which did not sit well with Halak and Berube’s agent Allan Walsh which did not sit well with Islanders GM Garth Snow.
  • But Berube did play! Here’s actual video evidence of his first NHL win, a 5-3 victory over Minnesota at Barclays Center (Will was at this game!).
  • After two years of this, Berube was selected by Vegas in the expansion draft thanks to a complicated deal Snow made with Golden Knights GM George McPhee. It was an appropriately strange ending to an extremely strange saga.
  • Berube finally resurfaced in Chicago as a free agent and spoke about the frustrating experience with the good humor we heard he kept the whole time.
  • After bouncing around some more, he’s currently back in Southern California as the Anaheim Jr. Ducks’ director of goaltending. Good for him.
  • The Islanders signed Bracken Kearns, along with a bunch of other depth guys, to a 2-way contract in July of 2015. He led the Sound Tigers in just about everything that season and got a second deal the following year.
  • A Weird Islanders: The Podcast! First: video of an Islander taking a worthless penalty. Congrats, Bracken!
  • “Like the pennies at the bottom of a Trick or Treat basket” was the best way to describe your team acquiring Steve Bernier.
  • Bernier’s moment of infamy (that did not involve the Islanders): in a scoreless Game 6 of the 2014 Stanley Cup final, he smashes LA’s Rob Scuderi into the boards and gets a 5-minute major for boarding and a game misconduct. The Kings scored three goals on their way to the franchise’s first Cup.
  • From Nashville to Minnesota to New Jersey to Detroit, Zidlicky had a reputation as a good puck mover and offensive D-man.
  • The Islanders flirted with Marek Zidlicky for a while before finally going steady.
  • Weirdly, Zidlicky scored twice against his former team in a 4-0 win over the Devils in 2015 (Dan was at that game!).
  • There is only link one needed to sum up The Cole Bardreau Islanders Experience: Nov. 15, 2019 at Barclays Center, Bardreau becomes the first Islander to score his first NHL goal on a penalty shot (versus Ottawa’s Craig Anderson). Dan was there for this one, too.

What makes a “Weird Islander?”

We’re always open to suggestions about other Weird Islanders to discuss. Remember the criteria. Candidates must fulfill one of the two of the following:

  • Played one (1) season or less for the Islanders or very short stints over multiple seasons.
  • Be a veteran NHLer who is not generally associated with his time on Islanders.

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