Islanders Fans Accused of Homophobia, Racism, Vandalism

If you walk into a hockey arena wearing the opposing team’s jerseys, being the target of some trash-talking from the home fans is to be expected, but a group of Washington Capitals fans who attended Sunday’s playoff game against the Islanders at the Nassau Coliseum say some Islanders fans crossed the line with homophobic and racist comments and even vandalism.

Nate “Igor” Smith, a Caps fan who made the trip to Nassau County with a group of fellow Caps fans from New York City, detailed the experience on his blog, which has since gone viral.

Smith says the group arrived at the Coliseum early to tailgate and most of the “smack talk” from Islanders fans was good natured. However, when the group went inside, Smith says things turned ugly.

After the Islanders scored their first goal, Smith says a man behind him poured a beer on his head. Smith says homophobic comments were shouted at the group throughout the game and one of his friend’s had racist comments directed at her.

During the second intermission, two factions of the New York City Capitals Fans group met up at an outdoor smoking area. While there, Smith says several dozen Islanders fans surrounded the group and blew smoke into the faces of female members of the group. Some of the Islanders fans also pushed the group, which Smith says “weren’t about to start a fight with that many people.”

Smith, a Virginia native, also took issue with security at the Coliseum. He says one securiy guard wrongly blamed him for “instigating a fight” and later dismissed him when he told the guard a bottle had been thrown at the group.

After the game, which the Islanders won in overtime, the group made it back to their cars to discover the vehicle of one Smith’s friends had been keyed twice and the rear license plate had been stolen. Smith says security guards told the group to call the cops regarding the vandalism and Smith claims one of the guards “started laughing about the stolen license plate” as the guards drove away in a golf cart.

Smith, 34, called his day at the Nassau Coliseum the “worst experience I have had in 30 years of attending sporting events.”

“There were a ton of Islanders fans that were cool to us but we had incident after incident today in a way that I have never seen,” Smith wrote. “The combination of racism, sexism, homophobia, vandalism and violence was something almost impressive to behold.”

Smith’s blog quickly spread online and some Islanders fans chimed in on Smith’s story.

“Not all Islanders fans are like this,” one fan wrote in the comments section of the blog. “In fact, most of them aren’t. I was at the game today, and I saw what the other Isles fans were doing to the Caps fans. They were all drunk, and obviously were too ignorant to realize what they were doing. The rest of us Isles fans are good people that just want to cheer on their team.”

The blog also caught the eye of Brendan Witt, a retired NHL player who spent time with both the Islanders and the Caps.

“Since I played on the Island this article sickened me about some of the fans on Long Island,” Witt posted on Twitter.

The Islanders, who are playing their final games in Nassau before departing for Brooklyn’s Barclays Center next season, did not respond to a Patch request for comment on Smith’s blog.

The Islanders and Capitals will hit the Nassau Coliseum ice for Game 4 of their first-round playoff series on Tuesday night.

Photo: The car of a Capitals fan that was vandalized in the Nassau Coliseum parking lot on Sunday.

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