Failure™ Magazine

Mike Milbury’s New York Islanders

Seven years of futility on Long Island — and why the team is poised to win again.

Written by Jason Zasky   Filed under Sports

Kumar and Wang are also moving slowly towards obtaining a new arena—in sharp contrast to other recent owners. The plan is to re-establish the Islanders as a successful franchise on the ice first, then go to Nassau County and New York State for a new building. And despite the fact that the Nassau Coliseum lacks luxury boxes, restaurants and other amenities—it’s been dubbed the “Nassau Mausoleum” by one Rangers-loving New York sports radio personality—the venue is still a purists dream. “Certainly, for hockey and for sight lines as a fan, I don’t know that there’s a better building in the league than the Coliseum . . . and the acoustics are terrific,” says Cerny. (In music circles, the Coliseum is often mentioned as the best-sounding sports arena in the world.)

Meanwhile, the team soldiers on through what has been another difficult campaign, despite pre-season predictions that this would be a turnaround year. “The first excuse that comes out is injuries,” says Marius Czerkawski, the team’s leading scorer so far this season. “We haven’t had a chance to play many games together with the same team and rhythm,” he says. Cronin concurs, noting, “No team in the league is going to lose eight regular players—particularly in our organization, where it’s really vulnerable and young—and not struggle.”

As far as expectations for the remainder of 2001, Czerkawski says, “the goal is to do the best we can. We know we don’t have the most talented team in the league but we still hope that a miracle can happen and that we can be in the hunt for the playoffs.”

“What we’re going through right now is painful,“ says Cronin, “but like anything in life, it takes a certain degree of pain to have success.” Cronin and Co. hope they are still around to reap the rewards of this long developmental period. “The reality is that we could all get fired and somebody will inherit a pretty damn good hockey team.”

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