The Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum opened its doors in 1972 in Uniondale, Long Island, built to house the NHL's newest expansion team. For the first seven years, it was just an arena. Then the Islanders started winning, and it became something else entirely: a fortress.
The nickname "Fort Neverlose" didn't come from a marketing campaign. It came from opponents who simply could not win there during the dynasty years. Between 1980 and 1984, the Islanders were virtually unbeatable at home in the playoffs, and their home ice advantage became legendary around the league.
The building seated around 15,000 for hockey, which seems modest by today's standards. But what it lacked in size it made up for in intensity. The fans — passionate, knowledgeable Long Islanders who had grown up with this team — created a wall of noise that visiting players described as unlike anything else in the league.
The ice surface itself was considered excellent. The locker rooms were Spartan but comfortable. Al Arbour knew every corner of the building, and his teams were conditioned to thrive in it. The Islanders practiced there, lived near it, and treated it as home in the deepest sense.
"When you skated out onto that ice at Nassau for a playoff game, it was electric," said a former opponent who faced the Islanders during the dynasty years. "The crowd was right on top of you. You could feel the building shaking. It wasn't a pleasant place to visit if you were the away team."
The building eventually aged and fell behind modern arena standards. The Islanders left for Brooklyn in 2015, and Nassau Coliseum has gone through various renovations and reconfigurations since. But for those who were there during the glory years, Fort Neverlose lives on in memory as a sacred place — the home of four Stanley Cup champions.