{"id":557682,"date":"2026-04-22T04:30:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T04:30:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/557682\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T04:30:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T04:30:15","slug":"long-islanders-make-trek-to-bridgeport-to-see-ahl-team-in-playoffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/557682\/","title":{"rendered":"Long Islanders make trek to Bridgeport to see AHL team in playoffs"},"content":{"rendered":"

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. \u2013 Peter Shutowich of East Northport has been attending Islanders\u2019 games since the 1970s. But\u00a0he had never attended a game at the 10,000-seat Total Mortgage Arena, where the Islanders\u2019 AHL affiliate has played since 2001.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always been a lifelong Islander fan,\u201d Shutowich said as he walked into the arena with his 21-year-old son, Matthew, after driving from Long Island. \u201cMy sister-in-law lives two towns over so I went and visited her and made an afternoon out of it. Plus, you want to see some of the young guys.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Islanders haven\u2019t had good youth for a while now so with that and the other element of trying to see a game before they move, it was a bucket list item,\u201d Matthew Shutowich added.<\/p>\n

Bridgeport lost 2-0 in Game 1 of its best-of-three, first-round playoff series<\/a> against Hershey on Tuesday night \u2014\u00a0its first postseason appearance since 2022 \u2014\u00a0with its move next season to the 18,000-seat TD Coliseum in Hamilton, Ontario<\/a>, which recently underwent a $300 million renovation, hanging over the match. Game 3, if necessary, is Saturday in Bridgeport. Otherwise, Tuesday will mark the final game.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s why Bradley Altman, 23, of Holbrook, drove from Long Island for the game with Anthony Mandracchia, 24, of Levittown.<\/p>\n

Anthony Mandracchia, 24, of Levittown and Bradley Altman, 23, of Holbrook at Total Mortgage Arena in Bridgeport, Connecticut\u00a0on Tuesday night. Credit: Andrew Gross<\/p>\n

\u201cA, missing having the Islanders in the [NHL]\u00a0playoffs and B, this team is going to be moving \u2014\u00a0I\u2019d love to make a trip (to Hamilton) eventually \u2014\u00a0but having them right across the Sound in Bridgeport is nice to have,\u201d Altman said. \u201cA lot of teams are much further away from their home teams. Having a chance to see them so close is nice for this last chance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Walter Barker, 42, of Wantagh, a season-ticket holder at UBS Arena since it opened in 2021, also said he wanted to see the team in Bridgeport before it moved, though Tuesday was not his first visit. He also attended Bridgeport\u2019s 4-3 shootout win over Hershey on March 21 that marked 2024 first-rounder Cole Eiserman<\/a>\u2019s debut after he joined the team out of Boston University.<\/p>\n

Walter Barker, 42, of Wantagh, sits behind the net at Total Mortgage Arena in Bridgeport, Connecticut on Tuesday night. Credit: Andrew Gross<\/p>\n

\u201cI just figured the last season I wanted to see them a couple of times before they went away,\u201d said Barker, who took the train from Long Island. \u201cI think it\u2019s going to be a net positive move for the team but I really feel bad for the people who work in the arena. Those are paychecks that they\u2019re losing.\u201d<\/p>\n

A chance to see the prospects was another incentive for Islanders fans to make the trek. In addition to Eiserman, Tuesday\u2019s lineup included 2025 first-rounder Victor Eklund, Cal Ritchie, an Islanders\u2019 rookie this season, defenseman Isaiah George, expected to be on the Islanders\u2019 roster next season, and defenseman Marshall Warren of Laurel Hollow.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou get to see these younger players come up,\u201d said Will Chiarucci, 35, of Bellmore. \u201cYou get to see the future. Whether or not you drove up \u2014\u00a0I took the train today \u2014\u00a0or you take the ferry, it\u2019s always been an awesome time coming up here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chiarucci sat in his seat with a pile of Bridgeport Islanders jerseys purchased from the team\u2019s store in his lap. The jerseys were being sold at a close-out\u00a0reduced price\u00a0of $30.<\/p>\n

And as Chiarucci surveyed the sparse crowd, Newsday asked him if he understood why the team was relocating.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne hundred percent I understand why they\u2019re moving to Hamilton.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Andrew<\/p>\n

\n\tAndrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John\u2019s and MLB.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BRIDGEPORT, Conn. \u2013 Peter Shutowich of East Northport has been attending Islanders\u2019 games since the 1970s. But\u00a0he had…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":557683,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5110],"tags":[5,122,5470,3328,159,5190,5189,4,44320],"class_list":{"0":"post-557682","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-islanders","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-islanders","10":"tag-li-athletes","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-islanders","13":"tag-newyork","14":"tag-newyorkislanders","15":"tag-nhl","16":"tag-spadjacent"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116446483885892947","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=557682"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557682\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/557683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=557682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=557682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=557682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}