The logo that ruined an NHL dynasty. | Islanders Fisherman Era

The full story of The New York Islanders Fisherman Era: when the Isles rebranded to the Fish Sticks Logo. A story involving: Snoop Dogg, N.W.A, Fishermen, Billy Joel, a con man, a homeless mascot, and the New York Rangers - all culminating in the most embarrassing rebrand in sports history. A decade of excellence thrown away like old fish-sticks.

Check out @TheHockeyGuy incredible NHL history breakdown videos and jersey collection.

I'd also like to recommend Nick Hirshon's excellent book "We Want Fish Sticks: The Bizarre and Infamous Rebranding of the New York Islanders" - available on Amazon.

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⏰ Timecodes ⏰
0:00 Intro
1:45 The Islanders Dynasty
3:30 Hockey Fashion & Hip Hop
5:21 The Rebrand
6:30 The Birth of "Nyiles"
7:25 Fish Sticks
9:21 The Coach - Mike Milbury
11:08 The Con Man - John Spano
12:16 The Fisherman Today

#nyislanders #islanders #newyorkislanders #newyorkrangers #nyrangers #nhl #nhlplayoffs

About:
In this video we take a deep dive into the history of the infamous new York Islanders Fisherman logo, and how it became the laughing stock of the NHL and the ice hockey universe. The New York Islanders changed their famous Long Island logo after a particularly painful loss to the New York Rangers in the 1994 playoffs. Years of success were flushed away as the team embarked on a failed rebrand that angered fans and players alike. All culminating in John Spano's deception, Mike Milbury's trades and a team mascot afraid to leave the locker room - this story has it all. Strap in.

[mattdooley]

Great job ! My life story in fact, I had Islanders season tickets in 91-93. I split them with a roller hockey coach in College Point, Queens who asked me to. I signed the petition against the logo change (8:30) sitting somewhere in the 300 level seats at Nassau Coliseum, after sitting in the last row of MSG's blue seats for Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals in 1994 wearing a New York Islanders original logo starter jacket. Thank you for including video of the roller blading players (4:20), the historical accuaracy of this video, the next stop for those kids on skates at this time was usually a Sega Gensis / Super Nintendo console that offered 4-way play on NHL 94. True hockey Nirvana, if you were 19 years old like I was. The most loyal of New York Islanders fans sat in section 329 at the Nassau Coliseum for home games. A lot of those guys are from Staten Island. Post dynasty, a good number of New York Islanders fans came from the surrounding areas of Queens, the boros, etc. simply because they did not want to root for the Rangers, or admired the great players and teams of the New York Islanders dynasty. Thank you for a great video, and keep in mind (Rangers Fans) the New York Islanders were at one time the greatest franchise in pro sports, and the envy of the sports world. The last North American sports franchise to win 4 consecutive championships.

[GoseGose]

Gretzky didn’t play for the Rangers in 94. He joined the Rangers 2 years later. Just wanted to let you know. Enjoying your work so far!

[dafttassia]

Attacking a mascot cos you hate a logo is so bizarre to me

[danny]

Islander fan here. The logo is still very much polarizing but most have come around to it. The real problem with the uniform is that it completely erased the look of an already historic team from only a decade previous. Had this look been released as an alternate uniform and under more a more prosperous product on the ice at the time, this uniform would t have been so hated. For me personally, I was a kid in the 90’s, I remember people weren’t thrilled. Now, most of the fans in their 30’s and 40’s (and younger) grew to appreciate it and wear it like a badge of honor of sorts. It’s retro, it’s hip, it’s collectible, and it’s part of the history. I love it now, but not more than our original logo.

[brenthrax]

Captain Fishstick rules! The problem wasn't it was a bad logo, the problem was it replaced a classic and the team sucked.

[RudieObias]

Back in the day, I thought this logo and uniforms were dope. It was a bold re-imagining. NHL fans are notorious for gatekeeping and tradition though, so I can see why fans hated it

[raggamuffin]

I’m Islanders fan and I promise we all hated the change lol but now I like the logo as a throw back sometimes lol the old jerseys are the best because it has Long Island on the jersey. It’s just the perfect jersey. This really brought me back bro thank you for making this. I really expressed our fans frustrations well hahah bro thanks for this

[liberte]

I understand the issue. However, I started watching hockey in 1995 and always prefered that jersey as there was many modern interesting jerseys throughout the 1990's, as teams tend to return to much classic designs, as the Sens, Pens, Flames and others tend to wear their early 1990's jerseys, which is cool too. Now that I see it back again I understand that the back of the jersey can look horrible to some people with the waves and all that, but for kids outside NY it was fun back then.

[maxrockatansky]

Rebrands are tough. The problem is that rebrands are lead by marketing experts who are rarely fans of the game or the team and think of a sports logo purely as a marketing tool, like any other product to be sold. They rarely understand that a sport's team is part of the fans ' cultural heritage. You can't treat it like Starbucks or Home Depot.

[travisburgjr]

Long Time Islanders fan from Long Island NY, and I personally always loved that jersey

[ElectrifyingUno]

Next logo coverage would be the gone but not forgotten Hartford Whalers WH logo.

The NHL has some iconic logos like the Blackhawks, Blues, Bruins, Redwings, Leafs, Penguins, Sharks, Flyers, etc.

[blindwatcherseye]

That would be a top 10 jersey in the NHL today

[toddgunther]

The real truth -- it's a good logo and always was.
It was just too close to the Gorton's logo -- nobody buys fish sticks now, so the negative connection is gone.

[JackMartino-ne]

Love your channel man I can't wait to see more vintage sportswear videos like this one

[Placid]

The Islanders' AHL minor league affiliate, the Bridgeport Islanders, are using the Fisherman logo this season (2024-25). He's all over the website. There's even a huge painting on the side of their arena of the Fisherman.

[lightningdb]

This is my favorite YouTube channel at the moment. Keep up the great work!

[timkillian]

ESPN did a really good 30 for 30 documentary on John Spano's attempt to buy the Islanders called Big Shot.

[DGS]

Lowkey, it's kinda fire. The NY Riptide of the National Lacrosse League definitely used it as inspiration.

[Themanthatisi]

As a Rangers fan, we chanted. We want fish sticks!

[CSXIV]

Not an Islanders fan, but I remember when a friend of mine first showed that to me, and my reaction was “what the hell is that?”

I’m also seeing a lot of similarities between the logo and the mascot to the bizzare story of Krusty Krab, the anti-mascot for the San Francisco Giants in the 1980’s (except Krusty Krab was specifically created to be hated. It was an anti-mascot). In both cases, the hate directed at the mascot was more or less cover for a team that was throughly awful, with an frustrated fan base taking their anger out on a mascot because of how much the team sucked.