Longtime Islanders superfan and \u201csign guy\u201d Patrick Dowd still inspires with his witty and motivational messages \u2014 25 years after he played a pivotal role in post-9\/11 healing with his wildly popular \u201calways believe\u201d sign. <\/p>\n
\u201c9\/11 inspired my sign,\u201d declared Dowd, well known among blue-and-orange faithful for holding his posters up on the glass when the Islanders take the ice. <\/p>\n
\u201cReally, it was a model of always having faith through crises in life \u2013 whether it\u2019s on the ice or not,\u201d he told The Post about the uplifting sign that has appeared at every major game in the decades since. <\/p>\n
Islanders Eric Cairns was moved by the events of 9\/11 and its impact on Long Island. Neil Miller for NY Post<\/p>\n
The message struck a universal chord during the unforgettable 2001-2002 season, which brought a long-awaited playoff return and much-needed jubilation to anguished fans whose worlds had been shattered<\/a> by the terror attacks.<\/p>\n The 9\/11 devastation sank in for Islanders defenseman Eric Cairns<\/a>, a Canadian who was heartbroken hearing stories of loss his Garden City neighbors suffered while living on Long Island. <\/p>\n It hit even harder when he and then-head coach Peter Laviolette\u2019s promising team visited Ground Zero and saw the \u201cemotional,\u201d seemingly never-ending photo wall of the many missing people in Lower Manhattan.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we chose to let it galvanize us as a team \u2013 and really vibed off that.\u201d<\/p>\n Things started with a rare moment of unity during an exhibition game against their arch-rival Rangers, where the usual bad blood was cooled to the temperature of the ice.<\/p>\n Seeing the devastation of Ground Zero galvanized the Islanders in the 2001-2002 season. Paul Martinka for NY Post<\/p>\n \u201cWe all lined up on the blue lines as one \u2013 Ranger, Islander, Ranger, Islander,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cWhich doesn\u2019t happen very often, if at all.\u201d<\/p>\n Fans were without a doubt ready to believe in something, said Bill Kain, the Isles vice president of sponsorship that season.<\/p>\n \u201cEverybody had been to a lot of funerals, a lot of services, including myself.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt just made it really hard to enjoy life again,\u201d added Kain, a diehard season ticket holder in his personal life.<\/p>\n The Islanders played in the name of their hurting fans the season after Sept. 11. New York Post<\/p>\n Hockey finally returned to the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in mid-October, when an eagle flew down to the American flag-draped surface before puck drop.<\/p>\n Newly acquired and beloved captain Mike Peca wore an NYPD uniform and an ESU pin as teammates skated out with FDNY and police gear, while famed boxing announcer Michael Buffer called their names.<\/p>\n Long Island native Joan Jett then introduced the NYPD and FDNY\u2019s hockey teams, who unfurled a massive American flag on the ice to thunderous \u201cUSA!\u201d chants \u2013 just before \u201cSopranos\u201d star and Jericho\u2019s Jamie Lynn Sigler belted out the national anthem.<\/p>\n \u201cIt gave me goose bumps\u2026you could just feel the patriotism,\u201d center Shawn Bates recalled. <\/p>\n Shawn Bates got chills during the Islanders home opener that season. Neil Miller for NY Post<\/p>\n \u201cJust the camaraderie between everyone during that tragedy\u2026it was inspiring,\u201d added the Massachusetts born player.<\/p>\n Dowd, 65, remembered a friend at the game saying he used the Islanders to preoccupy his mind while fleeing the Financial District on 9\/11<\/a>, too.<\/p>\n \u201cEven though 9\/11 kind of brought you down a notch,\u201d Dowd said, \u201cin another way, it bonded us closer.\u201d<\/p>\n The new-look Islanders, who also onboarded 32-goal scorer Alexei Yashin and quick-stick goalie Chris Osgood, became the hottest thing on ice with only one October loss in an emotional year that coincided with the team\u2019s 30th anniversary.<\/p>\n It was a stark contrast to the franchise\u2019s notorious blunders of the decade prior, which started with getting swept by the Stanley Cup-winning Rangers in the 1994 playoffs \u2013 the Isles\u2019 most recent postseason appearance at the time.<\/p>\n They became the NHL\u2019s bottom feeders by 1996 and endured the humiliation of fraudster and\u00a0criminal new owner John Spano<\/a>\u00a0around that time.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen they were relevant again and the [post-Spano] ownership, the new players, and renewed excitement,\u201d Kain said, \u201cI think that was what brought everybody back to a feeling of, \u2018wow, we can have a little fun with this team.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Islanders superfan Patrick Dowd created his iconic \u201calways believe sign\u201d in the wake of 9\/11. Courtesy Patrick Dowd<\/p>\n The 42\u201328\u20138\u20134 Islanders drew the Maple Leafs in first-round playoff action that reinvigorated the raucous Coliseum,\u00a0nicknamed \u201cFort Neverlose\u201d<\/a>\u00a0from the palpable energy it gave during the team\u2019s four-straight Stanley Cup dynasty of the early 1980s.<\/p>\n New York was the tri-state\u2019s only team in that postseason and put up an epic seven-game grudge match that Isles nation talks about fondly.<\/p>\n \u201cWe laid it on the line every shift, every game, every minute,\u201d Bates said.<\/p>\n Darren Van Impe of the New York Islanders celebrates Alexi Yashin\u2019s goal against Curtis Joseph of the Toronto Maple Leafs during game six of the Stanley Cup playoffs at the Nassau Coliseum in Hempstead, New York, on April 28, 2002. The Islanders won 5-3. Getty Images\/NHLI<\/p>\n \u201cPeople that lost loved ones who were still coming to the games, we wanted to show some appreciation for their loyalty.\u201d<\/p>\n Cairns earned his iconic Isles moment of punching the lights out of Leafs Shayne Corson at the end of a must-win Game 6 that the Islanders took 5-3. <\/p>\n He skated off the ice\u00a0holding a finger up in the air<\/a>\u00a0to a roaring ovation.<\/p>\n \u201cOur fans were unreal. They were the best.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u201cPrior to warm-up, you could hear them cheering from the dressing room,\u201d Eric Cairns said of that electric postseason in Nassau County.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you can\u2019t get up for something like that, what can you get up for as an athlete?\u201d<\/p>\n But the showstopper belongs to Bates in a heroic goal fans put up there with the dynasty days.<\/p>\n Deadlocked at 3-3, he drew a penalty shot in Game 4 with two and a half minutes remaining while trailing the series two games to one.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The forward buried an immortalized game-winner against sharp goalie Curtis Joseph \u2013 and \u201ckind of almost blacked out\u201d as the fever pitch of fans let loose and nearly shook the ground.<\/p>\n Lifelong fan Jonathan Ansbacher doesn\u2019t remember all the details from 25 years ago, but will never forget, \u201cthat penalty shot was the loudest I\u2019ve ever heard the Coliseum.\u201d<\/p>\n Bates agreed.<\/p>\n \u201cThe old Coliseum goal horn \u2013 that thing seemed like it just kept going and going,\u201d added Kain.<\/p>\n With a late lead to defend, Bates just remembers \u201cit was just so loud \u2013 so loud.\u201d<\/p>\n The Shawn Bates penalty shot became one of the most special moments in Islanders history. Neil Miller for NY Post<\/p>\n The Islanders 2001-2002 season has a special spot in the hearts of fans. Neil Miller for NY Post<\/p>\n \u201cI was like, \u2018Is this really happening?\u2019 It certainly did.\u201d<\/p>\n The Shawn Bates penalty shot<\/a> turned into a moment as cathartic as Mike Piazza\u2019s tear-jerking homer when the Mets brought baseball back<\/a> to the Big Apple after Sept. 11, and touched heavy hearts similar to the Yankees\u2019 World Series run.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was the highlight of my NHL career.\u201d<\/p>\n Bates\u2019 only regret is that the Islanders couldn\u2019t beat the Leafs in the double-elimination game, bringing the moving season to a close.<\/p>\n Fans like Dowd say the team did its job in bringing joy and excitement back to those who needed it most, regardless of the outcome.<\/p>\n \u201cEverybody just came together as one.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Longtime Islanders superfan and \u201csign guy\u201d Patrick Dowd still inspires with his witty and motivational messages \u2014 25…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":842370,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[50090,354900,186,356649,2239,40359,394,385,99,5265],"class_list":["post-842369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-9-11","tag-9-11-25th-anniversary","tag-exclusive","tag-hockey-fights","tag-long-island","tag-nassau-county","tag-new-york-islanders","tag-nhl","tag-sports","tag-stanley-cup-playoffs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/842369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=842369"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/842369\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/842370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=842369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=842369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=842369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}