With the New York Islanders on the cusp of securing a playoff spot in 2024, I’d like to take it back 40 years ago, when the team was on its run for the “Drive for Five.”
The exact date has been forgotten. However, a quick look at a calendar from 1984, the guess would have to be between March 24 and April 14. It was one of these Saturday’s that two friends and I waited on a line outside Nassau Coliseum for Islanders playoff tickets. These were ducats for the Conference Finals and the Stanley Cup Finals, that were going on sale that morning. None of us had ever attended an NHL Playoff game before, so this was kind of a big deal.
I don’t know when we made the decision to go, but the plan was this: Myself and my friends Albert and Jay were going to drive out to Uniondale early that Saturday morning. I was 21-years old and the only one among us that had his driver’s license. Albert and Jay were both 19.
When we solidified the decision to go and discussed it with our friends of course everyone wanted tickets. I said that we would see what we could do. I know I did not have a credit card and the three of us just went out there with a wad of cash. In the big scheme of things, it didn’t matter how many people wanted tickets. Albert, Jay and myself were getting first dibs since we were doing the actual work.
As for the car, that is a story in itself. Albert’s sister Sharon was dating a friend of ours named Wayne. Wayne would park his car, a silver Mach 1, illegally in a lot in the projects where Albert, Jay and myself lived. Albert got the keys and we “borrowed” Wayne’s car for the trek out east. Apparently when Wayne noticed his car was missing, he really didn’t seem to care. In fact, he later told me that he wished someone had stolen it so he could collect the insurance. There was also the matter of a thick stack of parking tickets that Albert discovered when he opened the glove compartment.
I don’t remember too much about the drive out with the exception of Albert and Jay asking if I knew where I was going. I told them not to worry I went to Hofstra University which is adjacent to the coliseum and that I knew route and the area.
When we arrived, the line was huge. It was obvious some people camped out overnight. This was way before buying tickets over the internet in the comfort of your own warm home. We got on the line and we waited. I do recall that someone had a radio which was set to a rock station. I also remember hearing Kenny Loggins’ “Footloose” and Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time,” at least 20 times each that day. MTV was not even three years old, and I got into a discussion with a fellow Islanders fan who proclaimed that “ZZ Top makes the best videos.”
Everyone on the line was well-behaved and it was kind of a fun atmosphere, which the exception of the weather. I wasn’t exactly freezing but it wasn’t quite spring weather yet. I do remember by face being cold and my lips getting chapped from the wind.
The line moved slowly, and after what appeared to be an eternity, I finally made it up to the window. All that was left were two tickets for the first home game of the Conference Finals (Game 3). Albert and Jay never even got to the window as I was the last person to get tickets.
Fortunately, Albert struck up a conversation with a guy on line. This guy knew someone in the box office and came away with two tickets for every game that went on sale that day. He gladly sold Albert two tickets for Game 4 of the Conference Finals and two tickets to Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals. So, the day wasn’t a total loss.
We had six tickets for three games. There were three of us so the plan was that each of us would go to two games. This is when it got weird. For some unknown reason Jay decided right there that he didn’t want to go. “What is wrong with you?” I asked him. “We just spent seven hours waiting for tickets in the cold and wind and now you don’t want to go?”
Looking back, my friend Jay was extremely introverted, and I think the prospect of going with Albert who he didn’t really know made his shyness come to the surface. I still don’t understand why he wouldn’t want to go. It’s hockey, it’s the Islanders, a team we love who were trying to win their fifth Stanley Cup in a row. Plus, I reiterated we just waited seven hours!!!! Whatever. Albert and I went to all three games.
Somewhere between our ticket purchase and Game three, Wayne and Sharon broke up. This was heartbreaking for Wayne and devastating for Albert and me. This meant Albert and I had to take the train to the games. There would be no “borrowing” of the heavily ticketed Mach 1. It was no longer in its customary illegal parking spot. We ended up taking the LIRR to Hempstead and walking through a really crappy neighborhood, to get to the Coliseum.
Game three of the Conference Finals was the first game we attended. The Islanders had dropped the first two games in Montreal, so this game was crucial if they were going to win the series. Now I have been in some loud sports arenas in my day but this day, April 28, 1984 was the loudest building I had ever been in. The atmosphere was electric. The Islanders won, 5-2. They won game four two nights later (of which Albert and I were in attendance again) and completed the comeback on May 5, winning Game 6, by a score of 4-1. The Islanders were headed to their fifth straight Stanley Cup Final.
May 10th was Game 1 of the Finals against the high-powered Edmonton Oilers and once again the Nassau Coliseum was louder than anything else I had ever heard. Fortunately for Albert and myself, Wayne and Sharon were back together so the Mach 1 was ours for the night. This time there was no need to borrow it as Wayne actually lent it to us and gave us his blessing.
Nothing ever goes a hundred percent smoothly and this day was no exception. On the way out to the game somewhere on the Long Island Expressway, I was rear ended. The damage was minor, but I was still going to have to explain this to Wayne. The person that rear-ended me took off so no insurance cards were exchanged.
As we got out to Uniondale and were looking for something to eat, I ran into my cousin Curt. He told us to follow him to his house. Curt was an auto mechanic and obviously knew a lot about cars. I remember him re-building a stock car and racing it at Freeport when I was a kid. I explained to him what happened. He looked at the car, assessed the damage and provided a solution.
He told me to back the car up against a tree in his yard. That lifted the fender back up to where it was originally supposed to be. Curt then got out some tools, hammered something here, pounded something there and it looked almost as good as new. You’ve got to love a good mechanic, especially when he’s family. I don’t know if Albert or I ever told Wayne about the accident.
As for the game, it was exciting and boring. The final score was 1-0 in favor of the Oilers. Exciting if you like defensive battles, Boring if you like the final to be something to the tune of 6-5. The thing that will always stick with me about this game is that, with all the firepower on both teams, one goal was scored. And it was scored by Kevin McClelland at 1:55 of the third period. This guy scored 68 regular season goals throughout his career and just 10 in 93 playoff games. It just so happened that this one was a game winner.
This was it for me and Albert going to playoff games. The Islanders won the next game at the Coliseum 6-2. Then they went to Edmonton and lost three in a row. The Drive for Five was no more but it was fun while it lasted, especially since we got to see a few games in person. I got to go to the Stanley Cup Playoffs, I sort of stole a car (although we preferred the term “borrowed”), and had a fun spring!
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