Sports

Isles Play Barclays, Fans Ride the Railroad

Long Island's team dropped their first game in Brooklyn.

The arena is very nice. 

As for the commute? Not so much.

Islanders fans who rode the Long Island Rail Road to Saturday night's exhibition game saw the Devils drop the Islanders 3-0.

But the final score of a meaningless game was secondary to fans who got their first look at the Barclays Center. 

The Daily News had a nice photo spread of the the event, which included quotes from players who were impressed with the arena.


Gene Morris of Newsday spoke to a few Long Island-based fans who also enjoyed the experience of watching hockey in the borough of Kings. That story included a quote from an East Meadow resident, who said having visitors come to the Coliseum and laugh at it is "embarrassing."

But the positive reviews for the Barclays Center, off-center scoreboard and all, did not carry over to the commute, where many fans took to Twitter to say that there was a mad dash to catch specific trains. Christopher Vaccaro, a former Patch editor who now works as a senior digital editor for Topps, posted this photo of Islanders fans who most certainly wished they were on the Meadowbrook Parkway.

For now, the Meadowbrook and Hempstead Turnpike will work fine for fans trying to get to Islanders games. The team is expected to play two more seasons in Nassau County before moving full-time to Brooklyn.



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