UBS Arena opened a couple years ago and with it being a 1-2 hour trip (depending on traffic and trains) from my house, I saw a good opportunity on the calendar late in March. The Islanders were starting at 1:00 PM and the Rangers at 8:00 PM with both teams still having something to play for. The incredible disparity in secondary market ticket prices I supposed balanced things out as we got seats for $30 to begin the day and then had to spend $200 just to get in to see the Rangers. Insane how expensive they are. My brother joined me for this trip and the weather was as awful as it could be without leading to cancellations. It poured the majority of the day with 3 inches of rain causing some flooding issues around the area. This led to a few accidents on I-80, but we arrived to the train station in Secaucus on time. From there, it’s a 10-minute train ride to Penn Station in NYC and then 35 minutes on the LIRR to the Elmont station near UBS Arena. The location is not ideal as it is a very long walk around the horse track to get to the arena (there is overhead cover though from the elements). They also had shuttles ready and we hopped on that. After getting out, I balanced an umbrella and picture-taking for the beautiful exterior of this arena that so beautifully compliments the nearby surroundings of famed Belmont.
We hung out in a food / drink hall inside the arena before the gates opened and I was happy that you can enter 90 minutes before puck drop. That gave me plenty of time to check out the concourses and interior (though turn those lights on before warmups so I can take pictures!). They really did a great job with this arena as all the qualities are solid and I’ll detail that in the review that I complete next week. I find most large/pro arenas boring because they all look the same and while that is somewhat true here, they execute it well with no obstruction and an open upper end. There is also only one rung of suites and the separation between the 200 and 300 level leads to a great pitch and view. From an atmosphere perspective, nothing could replicate the Coliseum. That place was one of the best come playoff time and that building truly rocked and was deafening. Here, the noise is average and I was disappointed with the atmosphere. I guess that happened too at the Coliseum during the regular season when the team was just eh. The atmosphere there varied wildly as sometimes it sucked and sometimes it was incredible. This season, maybe the fans were frustrated with the 6-game losing streak, maybe their trip in with bad weather soured them a bit….but they just didn’t have that umph or pizaaz on this afternoon. It wasn’t the team’s fault, they were fantastic, winning 6-3. There were points where I thought the crowd should really be into it given how well they were playing when they went up 4-0, but they were just fine, not great. Don’t get me wrong, there were several “Let’s Go Islanders” chants and I know this group is capable of bringing it. But on a one-off for comparing first time arena visits, they are behind several teams for regular season atmosphere. I do love the post-goal stuff here…the “Whooo”, the organ and then the “Yes, Yes, Yes” chant. It’s an awesome tradition.
After the game, it was a brutal walk back as the wind got my pants drenched. Thankfully, I had a pair of extra socks to change into and that helped a bit (to which my brother responded like Harry Dunne). Back into the City, we had dinner at Mustang Harry’s and then walked a block to Madison Square Garden. I’ve written a few times on experiences here, so I won’t rehash the building as that can be seen in the review. It is (so far) my favorite NHL atmosphere and this crowd did not disappoint again. They are loud, vulgar and love their Rangers. The 8:15 PM start probably helped getting them more juiced up. It blows me away that they can play a basketball game in the afternoon and then 3 hours later have the ice surface ready for a hockey game at night. It worked in our favor for time between games, but backfired afterwards as overtime and a train delay meant we didn’t leave Penn Station until 12:06 AM and didn’t get back home to Northwest Jersey until 1:18 AM. At least we were treated to an amazing game as two top teams battled. Florida built a 2-0 lead and then the Rangers rapidly answered to tie it in the middle of the second period. They dominated the third, but it was one of those moments where you just felt a goal coming for Florida the first time they had extended zone time. That came with 4:08 to play, but what I didn’t expect was Artemi Panarin scoring 43 seconds later to tie it again for the Rangers. It was his second of the night and 43rd of the season. The game went to overtime, which was pretty good in spite of me hating that occasionally dull possession-based 3-on-3 format. The shootout featured a brilliant move by Mika Zibanejad and the Rangers won. Instead of sitting in the awful 200s with a distanced view and the Bridge blocking the scoreboard, I found seats at a similar price in the first row of the Bridge (300) level. Sitting here, I changed my view of the feature as it provides one of the most unique seats in the NHL (see below).
Stadium and Arena Visits 