(L-R) Butch Goring, Bobby Nystrom, Brent Sutter, Duane Sutter, Lorne Henning. (Supplied)

By Kevin Watson

Brent and Duane Sutter

Island reunion: New York Islanders 50-year reunion

Jan 30, 2023 | 12:01 PM

Fifty years of NHL hockey on Long Island, New York was celebrated recently with players from the past and present.

Like most sports’ expansion franchises, the Islanders of the 1970’s struggled the first few years with cast offs from other teams and young players. The Islanders drafted very well and brought along those young players quickly and by the end of the decade and into the early 80’s were the best team in the NHL. Four Stanley Cups and a loss in the fifth straight final would attest to that.

Two of the six Sutter brothers to play in the NHL were draft picks of the Islanders in the 70’s and contributed to that success. Duane was called up during his junior season in Lethbridge as a 19-year-old and spent the next four years winning Stanley Cups. Brent was called up from Lethbridge as well mid season in his 19-year-old year and won two cups in-a-row.

Empire State Building lit up in Isles colors. (Supplied)

After being traded to Chicago from the Islanders, Brent had never been back to the Island except as a player or coach of an opposing team. Because he’s been busy with his duties as the Red Deer Rebels Owner, President, GM and previously Head Coach he couldn’t get away to other alumni events.

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“You know, you hum and hah whether you should go because you’re busy here with the hockey team and with the farm, but you know what, it’s a once in a lifetime experience and the 50^th anniversary, finally its at a time where I could actually go. So, Connie and I decided why not, lets go and it was good to go with brother Duane and his wife Cindy, it was a great trip.”

Getting to play with your brother on the same team is special and then to have as much success together as they did is even more enjoyable. As you would expect, the brothers did a lot of things together besides playing hockey and winning Cups.

”You kind of take it for granted when you’re playing and then you reflect back and fans that are our age or younger than ourselves they’re saying how influential we were in their lives at that point and time because, I was 18, 19 years of age and they were that age too or maybe some were 14, 15 and they were huge Islander fans, so the connection was with age. “

“It was really neat when you’re doing the autograph signing, people come up and talk to you about that, saying that they always looked at the standards that we held ourselves at, just not on the ice, but the way we were off the ice, influenced them on how they wanted to be in their world. You had a lot of great conversations with people that you never met or maybe you did, but just don’t remember, there might have been kids at autograph signings that were 13, 14, 15 years of age then and now they’re in their 50’s and they’re talking to you about those things.”

Along with the Stanley Cups, Brent won a Centennial Cup (Red Deer Rustlers) and three Canada Cups as a player and added a Memorial Cup (Red Deer Rebels) and two World Junior Championship Gold medals as a coach. So, you always hear about how championship teams are special and how the guys form a special bond and for a team to become a dynasty that bond is extra special.

“It was 40 years ago and it’s like you didn’t miss a beat. The stories that were being told, no one forgot them. We had some great laughs, lots of talks about Al (Arbour-Coach) and Bill (Torrey-GM) crazy things that Al used to do as our coach. He was a players coach for sure.”

For how fun it was to see old familiar faces and catch up on each others lives, it was bitter sweet because a pair of Islander legends Clark Gillies and Mike Bossy passed away in 2022.

“Yeah, that was hard, that was hard not seeing the big fella there for sure and Boss and now neither of them are with us. Them leaving us at such a young age its hard to comprehend when you really think about it.”

Before they headed back home, the brothers jumped in a car with their wives and headed down a different memory lane. They went to check on the houses they used to live in and some of their favorite watering holes.

“We went to a couple places where we used to hang out as players, they’re still there. Different names, but one is still the same, family-owned business. The houses still look the same, the neighbourhoods still look the same.”

About 70 players attended the 50^th anniversary weekend celebration including the team’s first ever captain, Ed Westfall. Players from the cup teams included Bryan Trottier, Stefan Persson, Denis Potvin, Bob Nystrom, John Tonelli, Duane Sutter, Brent Sutter, Ken Morrow, Butch Goring, Lorne Henning and Anders Kallur.

No team has won four Stanley Cups in-a-row since the Islanders and in today’s NHL, no other team probably will ever again.

The color for a 50^th anniversary is gold, but for the Islander alumni that won Stanley Cups, silver is more appropriate.