For Islanders fans — a largely masochistic bunch who are quick to share just how horrific the past 20 years they’ve endured has been — there’s no sense in comparing their championship drought to that of the Royals or Browns, but there is something of a kinship in how each team’s fans have endured.

Surely, it hasn’t been easy. Not only was the Islanders’ on-ice product near-unwatchable for the majority of two decades, but the team also was under constant threat of relocation, which alienated longtime fans and absolutely suffocated any attempt to grow the fanbase with newer, younger devotees. Several former owners found themselves in jail, and management of the franchise fell to an egotistical, incompetent GM who now masquerades weekly as a “hockey expert” on national television.

Mike Milbury’s New York resume brims with “accomplishments” that demonstrate his franchise-burying awfulness, including, but not limited to, trading away: Roberto Luongo, Zdeno Chara, Todd Bertuzzi, Olli Jokinen, Bryan McCabe and Bryan Berard. Mercifully relieved of his duties in 2006, and replaced with former Rangers’ executive Neil Smith, respectability and relevancy were supposedly restored to the once-proud franchise.

Well, sort of. Smith lasted 40 days before he was replaced with the Islanders’ backup goaltender, Garth Snow, who, some eight years and ZERO playoff series wins later, still remains in the role today. New York owner Charles Wang is nothing if not loyal, it seems. (Well, unless your last name is Smith, of course.)

Now 24 years old, I have never seen the Islanders win a playoff series. The last time they advanced beyond the first round was way back in 1993, when they topped the Washington Capitals and then upset the heavily-favored Pittsburgh Penguins. No, my “greatest Islanders memory” is the team losing a first-round series in seven games to the Toronto Maple Leafs. In an area that has seen the Yankees, Giants and Rangers climb the mountains in their respective sports — in some cases, multiple times — it hasn’t been easy.

Finally, with the team now playing well for an extended period of time — #NoJinx! — local fans who’d long ago left their team for dead are starting to rekindle the relationship. The attention, of course, takes some getting used to, so please bear with the traffic as the bandwagon gets itself organized on Hempstead Turnpike once again.

This all struck me the night after Thanksgiving. I went to see the Isles play the Capitals in D.C. with my dad. The teams were tied at two about halfway through the contest when Alex Ovechkin scored the eventual game-winner in a 5–2 win. The Capitals outplayed the Islanders and deserved both points. And it felt fine. All of a sudden, a regular-season loss on the road in late November wasn’t a life-or-death situation for me. It was just a stupid little loss. So this is what being good feels like, I thought to myself.

Even if it’s the Kool-Aid, I am drinking.

Sure, the Islanders have a lot more work to do to make up for the heart-torching pain the fanbase has had to endure — just making the playoffs would be a welcome change, even if that’s not exactly an accomplishment most teams would hang their hats on. But something just feels different with this team right now. Maybe it’s the fact that the Isles are leaving Long Island for good, or maybe it’s just nostalgia for the dynasty teams, but for once, I am not afraid to imagine that the sky’s the limit.