Islanders Meet Season Ticket Members at UBS Arena

Casey Cizikas has seen and signed a lot of New York Islanders items in his 11 years with the team. That includes the arm of a fan or two.
Safe to say it takes a special item to stop Cizikas in his tracks, but Elvis Cadet accomplished it at UBS Arena on Friday night. Cadet, a Season Ticket Member since 2015-16 had a game worn Cizikas jersey from his days with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. Cizikas has become so synonymous with the number 53, it's almost unthinkable that he wore 11 at one point in the Islanders organization.

Cizikas signed the jersey and gave Cadet an emphatic handshake, player and fan each leaving the meeting with a smile.
That was a common scene at Friday's Meet the Team event, as the Islanders hosted Season Ticket Members at UBS Arena on Friday, offering fans a chance to get up close and personal with their favorite players.

For Louis Simone and his two sons, eight-year-old Nicholas and two-year-old Christian, that meant racing around the concourse to meet as many players as possible. Halfway through the night they had autographs on a mini helmet from Mathew Barzal, Kyle Palmieri, Scott Mayfield and Ross Johnston.
Perhaps the best part for Simone's two sons was the scrimmage before the event, a rare chance to get right on the glass for a skate considering the Islanders usually hold closed practices.
Nicholas got a fist bump from Cal Clutterbuck, a wink from Matt Martin and a stick tap from Casey Cizikas.
"It was a great time. They put on a good event," Louis Simone said. "The kids were excited. They were down on the glass. They loved it."
It wasn't lost on the Islanders that their fans came out on a Friday afternoon to watch them scrimmage.
"Our fans are a big part of who we are and what we are," Noah Dobson said. "We play for them so for us to put on a scrimmage for them like this it's great and obviously a good opening to get everyone excited for the season coming up here shortly."

Friday's event featured a range of Islanders Season Ticket Members, from rookies to 50-year veterans.
The veterans could recall previous meet and greets at Adventureland, the Coliseum or after Blue and White Scrimmages. Zeb Ahmed, a Season Ticket Member since 2015 remembered meeting the team at a go-kart track that year and in 2015 and witnessing Michael Grabner crash his go-kart. On Friday he was getting his Ilya Sorokin jersey signed by the man himself, making a new memory with one of his new favorite players.
"It's great. It's always a good show of support for these guys," Ahmed said. "For them to come out after [practice] and do this for the fans means the world to us."
For some of the first-year Season Ticket Members, like Christopher Davidson, a chance to meet the team was an unexpected perk and affirmed his decision to lock in seats for the season.

Davidson and his friend Amy Altmann, who sit in sections 210 and 211, respectively, got in line early to meet Barzal. Altmann said she was star struck getting to meet her favorite player and summed up the feelings of the fans on Friday.
"Amazing. I have no words. I was just star struck," Altmann said. "I told him that he was the reason I'm a hockey fan and an Islanders fan. He said 'I love that' and I took a selfie with him and I couldn't be happier."
Want to be at the next Meet the Team event? Find more information on how to become a Season Ticket Member find more information here.