The Islanders entered game 6 on the heels of a tough 6-3 loss to the Flyers at The Spectrum in Philadelphia. 

“We had just lost a big game in Philadelphia and we came back into this building  and we were down a little bit,” said Nystorm of the moments before game 6.  


However, the team started to understand something special was about to happen when they took the ice for warmups - because that’s when they heard the fans.

“When we went out for warmups they gave us such an ovation that I almost broke down into tears,” said Nystrom.  “That was the moment that I really felt the connection between the fans and the players and they just instilled the motivation to go out there and win the hockey game.”

May 24th, 1980 represented the culmination of the team’s growth from their humble beginnings as an expansion team in 1972 to Stanley Cup champions. Forward Lorne Henning had been there from the beginning.

“When we first came in in '72 we got hammered pretty good for a couple of years,” says Henning.  “Then Al (Arbour, head coach) came in in '75 and we started to turn the corner.  Al gave us some character and discipline and then we had a couple of tough losses in '78 and '79 that and we grew from that.  It was a long journey but it was pretty special to go through it with all the fans.”

Flash forward to overtime with the game tied 4-4.  Everyone knows the famous play - John Tonelli passes to Nystrom, who slips it past Flyers goalie Pete Peeters.  However, it was Henning who started the play.  The kicker?  He wasn’t even supposed to be on that line. 


“Normally Wayne Merrick is on that line but he got hurt in the second period, says Henning. “So I got thrown up on that line and we played together a little bit during the year so there was some chemistry but I just saw in the regroup, Johnny was breaking through the seam.”

PHOTOS: Scenes from the 1980 season

Once Nystrom scored it was an immense sense of relief - not elation - that entered his mind. 

“My first thought was ‘thank God that this is over’ because it was so difficult to get there and it was so grueling and tiring,” says Nystrom. “Then a couple minutes later it’s just joy and pandemonium when guys just hugged me and sticks and gloves went flying and we knew that we won the cup.”

For one player, the Stanley Cup represented the second top honor in the span of three months.  Defenseman Ken Morrow had also won the gold medal in the 1980 ‘Miracle on Ice’ in Lake Placid.

“I went through a three month period where we won the gold medal in lake placid on February 24th.  I played my first NHL game 6 days later on a Saturday, I believe it was March 1st,” says Morrow. “Then 3 months to the day after winning the gold medal, skating around with the Stanley Cup. “


Morrow says the rigor of the Olympics and the battle against the Soviets on the ice helped prepare him for the intensity of the Stanley Cup playoffs. 

“Looking back going through what I went through in Lake Placid certainly helped when we got into those pressure packed games in the playoffs,” says Morrow. “The Stanley Cup playoffs are a survival of the fittest. It's draining, it's grueling, it's everything you can imagine.”

In the end, the team got to proudly hoist the Stanley Cup above their heads  in Uniondale.  A first for Long Island and its legion of dedicated hockey fans.

Forward Butch Goring, who later went on to coach the team and currently serves as on-air color commentator, says the sense of joy was unrivaled.  “It's like Disneyland came true.”

As for the man who fed the puck to Nystrom on that historic day, the victory would prove to be the defining moment of a stellar career.

“When that puck hit the back of the net, that meant it was over,” says Tonelli. “And we accomplished that goal that everyone on that team was working so hard to accomplish was by far the best moment of my career.”

As special as the victory was for the players, the Stanley Cup coming to Long Island was the culmination of years of hope for Islanders fans. 

Larry Bienenfeld has been a season ticket holder since 1972.  He was sitting on the blue line and remembers the crowd collectively holding their breath in overtime. 


“It was very tense, and when it finally happened it was like an explosion of excitement and relief at the same time.”

Dr. Harold Sirota, a 1980 season ticket holder, says the goal and Stanley Cup victory had a lasting impact on fans.  

Season ticket holder Larry Bienenfeld describes the scene at the Coliseum

"It was bedlam,” says Dr. Sirota. “ It was intensity with excitement but there was confidence in the air and that carried over to the fans that year."
 
The celebration spilled out into the parking lot and continued for many fans at home.

“We went home, to the house, we had champagne,” says Bienenfeld. “And the parking lot was mad.”

Dr. Harold Sirota reminisces about seeing the 1980 championship

“It was a great run, an amazing run.”

EXTENDED INTERVIEWS

Extended interview with Lorne Henning

Extended interview with Ken Morrow