As many of you may know, I’m not from Long Island, but I go to school here at Hofstra. Growing up, I’d drive to the Nassau Coliseum from Connecticut. Now that UBS Arena is open, and I live here on Long Island, I’ve been there twice in the last month since it opened. It is truly incredible and I want to give some of my thoughts about going into UBS Arena, from the perspective of a non-Long Island native.

Entrance

The Great Hall at UBS is simply majestic, it is definitely the nicest entrance to an arena that I’ve ever been to. I’ve been to many arenas, which had separate rooms as entrances, but either was dark and quiet. The Great Hall, on the other hand, is incredible to enter through and see firsthand.

The Concourse

When you walk up the stairs into the concourse, you can see how spacious the concourse is. It’s way bigger than the Coliseum, or even Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport, an arena I’m accustomed to. I love the MSG studio right at the top of the stairs. Shannon Hogan is awesome, and fans are able to talk with her before she is on camera, or during the periods. In some cases, you can talk to Anson Carter, Butch Goring, or AJ Mleczko. The Hall of Fame and season ticket wall are really cool too, except that it’s a bit cramped behind the Dime Club, but it still is super cool to have a club like that.

The second level is a bit narrower, but it’s still really cool. The best part is by far is the Tailgate Bar behind section 329.

Tailgate Bar

I love the banner behind the Tailgate Bar, a reminder of how global the Islanders fanbase is. It has all the logos of all different Islanders fan meetup groups, as well as the Islanders Booster Club. It was an extremely classy move by the Islanders ownership. I’ve never been involved with my local meet-up group in Connecticut. However, some of our friends from the Bridgeport booster club, which my dad helped co-found, are involved and go to those events back in Connecticut.

Food

I will not be getting into the prices of food at UBS Arena, but the food itself is very eclectic. The arena has plenty to choose from, with options ranging from tacos to sushi to meat carving. The arena also has BlueLine Deli, Shaq’s Big Chicken, and Chinese food. In my two visits to UBS Arena, I’ve only had the air-fried Emperor Tso’s chicken, which was full of flavor and really good. And obviously, everybody is asking about “The Islander” sandwich. The bagel really doesn’t feel like a bagel, but rather more like a sandwich. The other food choices look good too, but spend wisely.

This is an incredibly accessible arena. From the Heineken Terrace to going down to the glass for warmups, owner Jon Ledecky fulfilled his promise that bars will be open to the public and that we can watch the game from them. For me, as someone who is not from Long Island, this arena is one of the best that I’ve ever been to, and I recommend going to UBS Arena.

Christian Gardecki

A Native of Danbury, CT. Christian is one of the longest tenured Drive4Five writers, Christian Gardecki began writing for Drive4five In May of 2017. Christian covers Minor League Hockey and the Bridgeport Islanders for Drive4Five. Outside of Drive4Five, Christian was the captain of his High School Hockey team and currently attends Hofstra University with a major in journalism. Christian was the play by play broadcaster for the Danbury Westerners summer collegiate baseball team during their 2021 NECBL Championship. Christian also was the Public Address Announcer for the Danbury Hat Tricks Minor Pro Hockey team in the Federal Prospects Hockey League and NAHL Junior team from 2019-21.