UNIONDALE, NY – Last week we reported on Madeline Singas’ resounding victory in the race for Nassau County District Attorney. The Greek-American Democrat defied expectations by defeating her Republican opponent Kate Murray 58 to 42 percent, a near-landslide that far exceeded the razor-tight race polls indicated.

Singas’ husband, Theo Apostolou, pointed out that many underestimated Hellenic pride. Namely, that Republican Greeks in Nassau County crossed party lines to vote for one of their own.

Also dispensing with partisan politics was another contingency: New York Islanders fans.
According to Newsday, Islanders fans furiously took to social media in the days and weeks before the election, clamoring for Murray to be defeated. They blame her, Newsday writes, for their beloved Islanders’ move from the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

But Singas was not merely a passive beneficiary. She recognized the power of the Islanders base and she encouraged it.

MURRAY’S BETRAYAL

The prevalent reason for the Islanders exodus from Long Island to New York City was the condition of the Coliseum itself. Islanders Owner Charles Wang was hoping to fulfill the Lighthouse Project, a renovation which would have revitalized the aging Coliseum. But when the Project fell through, voters blamed Murray, who was Town Supervisor of Hempstead, in which the hamlet of Uniondale and the Nassau Coliseum are situated.

As a result, the Islanders have now moved to Brooklyn to begin the 2015-16 season.

Only 42 years old, the Islanders were founded in 1972 in an effort by the National Hockey League to keep the then-rival now-defunct World Hockey Association from establishing a team at the then-newly built Coliseum. It didn’t take long for the Islanders to make their mark, winning their first Stanley Cup championship in just their seventh year, the 1979-80 season, and winning three more in the ensuing three years.

Also despite their relative young status in professional hockey, the Islanders have boasted eight Hockey Hall of Famers: Al Arbour, Mike Bossy, Clark Gillies, Pat LaFontaine, Denis Potvin, Billy Smith, Bill Torrey, and Bryan Trottier. All but LaFontaine were members of all four Stanley Cups, the four-season era better known as “the dynasty.”

Shortly after declaring victory, Singas tweeted: “Thank you to everyone who made this possible! I asked you to #votesingas and you did! And special thanks to all our #isles fans.”