At long last, the Islanders are home.
Though they’ve spent the last few decades looking for a final landing spot, Saturday night's game against the Calgary Flames – being held in the new UBS Arena – marks the culmination of a long struggle that began with the failed Lighthouse Project and other false starts meant to give this team an adequate hockey arena on Long Island.
And, by all accounts, it’s been built to be far more than adequate.
The sprawling, 700,000 square-foot arena, which seats 17,250 for hockey, cost $1.1 billion – the result of a partnership between New York Arena Partners, Sterling Project Development and Oak View Group – and is part of greater development in the Elmont area.