Butch Goring remembers his first impression of the fans’ energy and passion at NYCB Live’s Nassau Coliseum as an Islander after his acquisition from the Kings at the 1980 trade deadline.
“I’m going to like playing here with these types of fans,” Goring recalled thinking to himself, before adding his second impression of his new team was, “We’re going to win a Stanley Cup.”
The Islanders and Goring, long called the “final piece” to that championship puzzle won four in a row from 1980-1983. On Saturday, the fan favorite’s No. 91 was lifted to the rafters — the “toy department” to use one of Goring’s broadcasting phrases — as the eighth player from those dynastic teams to have his jersey retired by the franchise.