The New York Islanders Tickets : The Islanders Will Use The Throwback As Their Primary Uniform

The New York Islanders are a professional ice hockey team based in Uniondale, New York. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). The Islanders are one of three NHL franchises in the New York City metropolitan area along with the New Jersey Devils and the New York Rangers, the latter of whom the Islanders maintain a rivalry known as the Battle of New York.

The team was founded in 1972 during the 1972/73 NHL season as part of a bid to keep the rival World Hockey Association out of the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum where the Islanders have played since their founding. The Islanders won four consecutive Stanley Cup championships between 1980 and 1983, one of nine dynasties recognized by the NHL in its history. The future of the team, according to many commentators, depends on the success of the Lighthouse Project development plan, which would include a new arena for the Islanders. They have not won a playoff series since the 1992/93 NHL season.

Eight former members of the Islanders have been inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, seven of whom Al Arbour, Mike Bossy, Clark Gillies, Denis Potvin, Billy Smith, Bill Torrey and Bryan Trottier were members of all four Cup winning teams. Pat LaFontaine was the most recent inductee, having been honored in 2003.The Islanders debuted in 1972 with traditional-style jerseys: either white with orange and royal blue stripes near the waistline and on the sleeves or royal blue with white and orange stripes. The design remained largely the same, despite minor tweaks, through the 1994/95 season.

Prior to the 1995/96 season, team executives decided to change the jersey. The fisherman logo replaced the "NY" circular design, and the new uniforms incorporated navy blue and a brighter orange and introduced teal and gray shades as well. The team was seeking increased merchandise revenues, with the outward justification of connecting the team more overtly to Long Island. The jersey included a lighthouse shoulder patch, a reference to the Montauk Lighthouse, and featured uneven stripes resembling an ocean wave near the waistline, on the sleeves, and across the shoulders. All of the numbering and lettering on the jerseys also followed the wave pattern.

Late in the season, the team decided to do away with the fisherman logo, but league rules forbade them from switching jersey designs for the 1996/97 season on only a few months' notice. Instead, the Islanders debuted their first third jersey, which was identical to the jerseys then worn by the team except that it used the circular "NY" crest in place of the fisherman.

The team wore this jersey in approximately fifteen games during the 1996/97 season and adopted it permanently for 1997/98.
Prior to the 1998/99 season, the team's new ownership reverted to the initial traditional design but kept the navy blue and bright orange from the "wave" era jersey. They added a shoulder patch of four bars, alternating in color, to represent the Islanders' four straight Stanley Cup championships.

The new design also changed the borders around the numbers and "C" and "A" letters: instead of leaving no space between the orange border and the white or blue numbers, the jersey featured a raised outline. A third jersey was introduced in 2003. It was orange and had navy blue stripes, outlined in white, going vertically on the sleeves and then cutting horizontally on the bottom of the sleeve. The navy blue stripes came out of the sleeve diagonally and jabbed out to a point into the bottom of the jersey. The team wore these jerseys through the 2006/07 season.

For the 2007/08 season, the Islanders redesigned their uniforms as all NHL teams changed over to the Reebok Edge system. This Islanders jersey resembled the prior design with a few changes. It featured uniform numbers on the right chest above the logo.

The name plates are in two colored format: white on orange on the home navy blue jersey and navy blue on orange on the road white jersey. On the upper arms, between the elbow and shoulders, the jersey has an additional orange stripe, where prior jerseys had no stripe. The new jerseys have a thin stripe tracing around the shoulders, and they feature "retro" laces at the neck.

The Islanders' third jersey was a royal blue throwback design resembling the jersey that the team wore from 1972/1977, with white letters and numerals (as worn from 1973 on; the team wore orange numerals on the blue jerseys in their inaugural season). The logo on the jersey features four stripes on the hockey stick instead of the original three, another nod to the championship teams of 198083.

In 2010/11, the Islanders will use the throwback jersey as their primary home uniform, along with a corresponding white road jersey which was unveiled on June 25th at the New York Islanders Draft Party at the Nassau Coliseum.