Appearances inside the arena aside, the news that the Islanders are leaving for Canada has been, let\u2019s say, difficult for the diehard fans.<\/p>\n
Michael Carrello, a season ticket holder from Trumbull, said it\u2019s rough. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s like losing a family member,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s like a stab-you-in-the-heart kind of feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lori Uilecan, a Bridgeport local who\u2019s had season tickets for all 25 years that the Islanders have been here, called it \u201cdevastating\u201d and \u201cheartbreaking.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were hoping another team would come in,\u201d Uilecan said. \u201cIt\u2019s a gorgeous building. It was made for hockey and for other events, but that building is going to sit empty for a while, apparently.\u201d<\/p>\n
And the move will be kind of rough on the businesses around that soon-to-be empty building, too. On game days, the crowd at Brewport Brewing Company, a brewery and restaurant a block west of the arena, can be as much as half full of people wearing Islanders jerseys, Rangers jerseys, even old Hartford Whalers jerseys.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe get a substantial crowd, considering the number of tickets that are sold,\u201d Brewport managing partner Jeff Browning Sr. said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny time teams like these leave, it kind of leaves a hole,\u201d Browning said. \u201cI mean, [the Islanders are] the only sports team in this area. We used to have baseball and hockey. Now we\u2019re going to have neither.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Bridgeport Bluefish<\/a> baseball team folded after the 2017 season.<\/p>\n And if you take a wider look at the sports environment in Connecticut, just 10 years ago, we had four professional baseball teams, three pro hockey teams<\/a>, a pro tennis tournament<\/a> every year in New Haven, and a WNBA franchise<\/a> at Mohegan Sun.<\/p>\n By next year, in those four sports, Connecticut will be down to one pro baseball team and two pro hockey teams. And that\u2019s it.<\/p>\n But one team that might stand to benefit from the Islanders leaving Bridgeport is Connecticut\u2019s other AHL hockey team, the Hartford Wolf Pack.<\/p>\n According to their vice president of business operations, Erik Hansen, the Wolf Pack has always had an agreement with Bridgeport.<\/p>\n Tyler Russell<\/p>\n \/<\/p>\n Connecticut Public<\/p>\n A preseason game between the Hartford Wolfpack and the Bridgeport Islanders in Bridgeport on October 1, 2025.<\/p>\n \u201c\u2018Hey, we\u2019re not going to market down in that neck of the woods.\u2019 But now that we have a bigger market to go after,\u201d he said, \u201cwe want those people to come up here to get their hockey fix.\u201d<\/p>\n While Bridgeport\u2019s club is an affiliate of the New York Islanders, the Wolf Pack are the New York Rangers\u2019 AHL team. But Hansen says that all kinds of hockey fans are welcome in Hartford: Rangers fans, Islanders fans, whatever kind of fan.<\/p>\n \u201cNow this is Connecticut\u2019s team,\u201d Hansen said. \u201cSo let\u2019s focus on what we have here in Connecticut. Let\u2019s support the Yard Goats<\/a>, let\u2019s support the Wolf Pack, let\u2019s support the [Hartford Athletic]. Because it\u2019s pretty nice to be able to have the second-best hockey in the world, and you can come out to see it for $25 a game. That\u2019s pretty amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n I asked Islanders season ticket holders Lori Uilecan and Michael Carrello if they plan to become Hartford Wolf Pack fans after the Islanders leave Bridgeport.<\/p>\n Uilecan\u2019s answer was as simple as it gets: \u201cNope. Nope.\u201d<\/p>\n Carrello, a life-long New York Islanders fan, said he could never root for the Rangers organization. But he does have a plan for hockey seasons going forward.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll have to spend time with my wife during the winter now,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Back at the game in Bridgeport a couple Fridays ago, I could feel this final season ticking away.<\/p>\n The Islanders tied it up late in the third period and went on to win, 3-2, in a shootout.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775854647_747_.jpeg\"\/)
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