Capitals fans complain of ugly treatment at Nassau Coliseum

Washington Capitals fans complain about treatment by Islanders fans at Nassau Coliseum.

A group of New York-based fans of the Capitals made a trip from Washington D.C. to Uniondale, N.Y., for Game 3 of their favorite team’s first-round playoff series against the Islanders and discovered that the natives were restless.

According to The Washington Post, the dozen or so Caps fans were expecting some noise, but it got uglier than that.

The 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs

“When it sort of took a turn toward racial slurs, physical violence, vandalism, that takes it to a dark” place, said Northern Virginia native Diane Bickel, who now lives in Manhattan. “No one died. It wasn’t the end of the world. Just an [unpleasant] situation.”

Nate “Igor” Smith, a Brooklyn resident who grew up in Alexandria, Va., wrote an open letter to the Islanders on his blog.

In it, with some photographic evidence, Smith detailed abuse that included a beer being poured on his head, homophobic slurs, his “Unleash the Fury” towel being taken out of his hand by another fan, racist commentary directed at a member of his group, a bottle thrown at them, a rear license plate stolen from a group member’s car—which had been keyed twice, profane chants and an Isles fan nearly starting a fight with the group in the parking lot before urinating in front of one of their cars.

An Islanders fan said the group of Caps fans was yelling at everyone and extending their middle fingers at a beer garden during an intermission, including in the direction of a teenager.