Connolly has been hosting playoff watch parties at Goal for any and all Islanders fans, many of whom are New York transplants. The most recent one was Friday during the Islanders' 1-0 overtime loss to the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference Second Round.
"When you move to California, you miss a piece of home," Connolly, a native of Long Island, said before the puck dropped for Game 1. "Right now it's already getting crowded. I mean the game is a half hour away, it's 3:30 (p.m., PT) on a Friday and it's tough with people working and stuff, but the bar is already packed. People are here ready to rock."
Goal has been buzzing not only on Islanders game nights, but for pretty much every Stanley Cup Playoff game.
"You should have seen the crowd we had in here for San Jose and Vegas," Connolly said. "The place was a mob scene."
But its the Islanders who occupy Connolly's attention.
And on Friday, the bar hosted another special guest. The Stanley Cup.
That brings us to one other rule, albeit only for a night and decided by the community of Islanders fans at the bar.
"We all decided nobody's going to touch it," Connolly said. "We're going to take pictures, get as close as can be but no one is touching it."
There is one other superstition. Before the game,
the Ralph Macchio bobblehead
goes on the bar and no one is allowed to disturb it.
"No one touches the Macchio bobblehead and no one touches the Cup," Connolly said. "It's a very superstious group in here. We know we got a long way to go, but we're ready."
