The room at The Fox Hollow Inn was filled with history, four decades of Islanders players united with fans to honor one special man with an appropriate special guest sitting on a table — the Stanley Cup.
Al Arbour’s name is etched on it eight times, four for playing and four for coaching the Isles.
“He’d be embarrassed about the honoring of him, but he’d have loved to see the players,” said Jay Arbour, Al’s son. “They were all very close. They meant a lot to him.”
The Islanders alumni staged the event Thursday night in Woodbury to celebrate the life of the late coach, the Hall of Famer who guided the franchise to four straight Cups from 1980-83 and who passed away at 82 last August.