What Does October 2nd Really Mean?

What does the game between the Islanders and the Devils at the Barclays Center really mean for the Islanders future?  By no means does a sellout guarantee that the Islanders are moving to Brooklyn.  However, a poor showing by the Islander fan could spell doom.  If the arena is half empty, or even worse it may very well kill the Brooklyn option, and cut the one safety net we have in New York.  A poorly attended game would show the league and Islander ownership that the team's fans aren't interested in a 20 mile move west, even if it is their last hope.  Worse yet it would prove the people who question Long Island as a hockey market right.  We have seen NESN run pieces saying that Long Island isn't a suitable hockey market, and we hear other fans say that nobody would care if the Islanders left New York, since they been irrelevant for 20 years.   That the New York market is over saturated with 3 teams, and the league would be better off with two teams instead.  As Islanders fans we have heard it all.

October 2nd is Islanders fans chance to show the league and the doubters of Long Island as a hockey market that we are still here.  It is our chance to say that we want our team, and that we can still support it.  That if Brooklyn is our only option for staying on the Island we're all aboard and will pack the house.  This isn't about wheather the team should be in Suffolk, Nassau, Queens, or Brooklyn, but whether or not we should have a team on Long Island.  So on October 2nd I'm asking you to stand by me at the Barclays Center, and tell the league and doubters that Islander fans are here and we aren't going anywhere.