| If you happen to live in the New York area and | | | | of the New York media. While they got coverage |
| someone mentions "Sport's Dynasty," you immediately | | | | during their peak performance years, it paled in |
| think of the New York Yankees. What with nearly a | | | | comparison to the coverage their arch-rivals, the New |
| century of championships averaging almost one every | | | | York Rangers would have received had it been them |
| three years, it is hard to argue against the Bronx | | | | and not the Isles winning all of those Stanley Cups. This |
| Bombers. | | | | was proven in 1994 when the Rangers won their first |
| But I'd like to advance the theory that during a 10 year | | | | and only Cup since 1941 and were the darlings of the |
| span, from 1975-1984 the New York Islanders were as | | | | New York media. |
| good a team as New York has ever seen in any | | | | Denis Potvin, Bryan Trottier, Mike Bossy, Billy Smith and |
| sport. During that span this hockey team managed to | | | | Clark Gillies were the Hall of Famers. Al Arbour, their |
| do the following: | | | | coach also was elected to the Hall of Fame. Maybe |
| - Come back from down 3 games to none in a | | | | more impressive than that is the list of greats on those |
| Stanley Cup quarterfinal series to win the series | | | | teams that were not Hall of Famers. These include |
| against the Pittsburgh Penguins. They were only the | | | | Bob Nystrom, Bob Bourne, John Tonelli, Glen Resch, |
| second team in all of sports to accomplish this. | | | | Dave Lewis, and Butch Goring to name a few. |
| - Come back again from down 3-0 to tie the semi-final | | | | No team, before or since in any sport had as great a |
| series that same year before losing in 7 games to the | | | | run as the Islanders did between 1980 and 1984 when |
| Philadelphia Flyers. | | | | they strung together a string of 20 consecutive |
| - Produce no fewer than 5 Hockey Hall of Fame | | | | victorious playoff series, before finally losing in the |
| players | | | | Stanley Cup finals to The Edmonton Oilers in 1984. |
| - Win 4 consecutive Stanley Cups. | | | | While their four consecutive Stanley Cups is not a |
| - Win an incredible 20 Stanley Cup playoff series in a | | | | record (the Montreal Canadiens won five straight back |
| row. | | | | when the playoffs consisted of only two series, the |
| - Play in the Stanley Cup finals 5 times. | | | | semi-finals and the finals), the Isles' 20 straight series |
| - Play in the semi-finals 9 times | | | | wins en route to their four Stanley Cups are actually |
| - Set the record for most consecutive games won | | | | double what the Canadiens had to win to get their five. |
| during the regular season | | | | This far exceeds what any team in any sport has |
| And the list goes on. All of these accomplishments | | | | ever done, and this great run certifies the Isles status |
| were completed in relative obscurity since the Islanders | | | | as a sport's dynasty. |
| were playing in suburbia, away from the glaring focus | | | | |