Congratulations to my New York Islanders, who smacked around the Ottawa Senators to win the first gave of that Stanley Cup Playoff series 3-0. Ottawa was the best team in the NHL this past season, but I think that the Islanders can win this series in seven games.

The Isles dominated in the faceoff circle, winning forty five and losing only twenty six. Goaltender Garth Snow was also brilliant between the pipes, stopping all twenty five shots he faced. This is exactly the momentum that the Isles need. They ended the regular season on a high note, and there are few shots in the arm less potent that shutting Ottawa out on their home ice.

The Islanders are a team rich with tradition. At the beginning of each home game the big screen will show a video montage of the team’s highlights, centering on their four consecutive Stanley Cup victories from 1980-1983. I get goose bumps every time I see that video.

It is this tradition that has sustained the Islanders for the past decade. The 90s were tough, with the Isles consistently coming up short and failing to make it to the playoffs. However, players and fans alike could not help but be heartened by looking up into the rafters of Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum and seeing four championship banners hanging proudly. Adjacent to these hang banners commemorating the retirements of the numbers of several former Islanders; I was at the Coliseum the night Clark Gilles’s number 9 was retired, and it was a sight to behold. Fathers leaned over to their sons and recounted stories about the golden years. Sons watched the banner slowly rise to the banners and wondered when they would see such sights as their fathers beheld. Fans reverently removed their hats in honor of the men who put their bodies on the line night after night in their pursuit of excellence and the immortality that comes with undying glory.

Last year the Isles made it to the playoffs for the first time since 1994 (where they were swept by the New York Rangers in the quarterfinals) and lost a heartbreaking series to the Toronto Maple Leafs in the seventh and decisive game. The New York Islanders now stand on the verge of adding to their already enviable list of achievements as a franchise. A new group of heroes stand ready in the wings, waiting for their turn to enter the Pantheon and join the ranks of the immortals.

We shall see.