The Time To Remember

Isles savor a sentimental night at UBS Arena

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Good Morning, Islanders Country.

Let’s start this morning with the words of Long Island’s Billy Joel, shall we?

🎶 This is the time to remember 'Cause it will not last forever
These are the days to hold on to 'Cause we won't, although we'll want to 🎶

Those, of course, are the lyrics to “These Are The Times To Remember,” and although that song wasn’t played as a backdrop to Brent Sutter’s Hall-of-Fame induction ceremony, the tune was playing in my head.

We just don’t know when we’ll see that again, and I’m not talking only about a Hall of Fame ceremony. You can never take for granted how many times you get to see Ed Westfall, Jiggs McDonald, Bob Nystrom, Bryan Trottier, and others on Isles’ home ice. We learned that in a heartbreaking way two years ago when the franchise lost Clark Gillies and Mike Bossy months apart.

We also don’t know how long we’ll see some of the players who were watching the ceremony from the bench in an Islanders sweater. It may be weeks for Brock Nelson, maybe a year or so for Anders Lee, etc. One day, they may be on the other side of a night like Saturday, but for now, enjoy it as best you can, even in the malaise of a frustrating season that is unlikely to end well.

The Islander's arc as a franchise is one of the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. Some of you have seen it all, and others have seen enough. The takeaway is that although things have been better, they have been far worse, too, and as Joni Mitchell and later the Counting Crows sang, don't it always seem to go you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone?