In a video grab from Zoom, Jets guard Greg Van Roten speaks during a news conference Aug. 6, 2020, at the team's facility in Florham Park, N.J. Credit: AP
Greg Van Roten – lifelong Islanders fan – would love to have seen his team vanquish the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup semifinals last month. Even so, the Jets guard believes there is something for his football team to embrace about the essence of a hockey team that came tantalizingly close to winning the Cup for the first time since the 1982-83 season.
"I think one of my favorite things about the Islanders is they play within the system," said Van Roten, the Rockville Centre native who attended Chaminade High in Mineola.