Before the team's move to Long Island, the then-New Jersey Americans had scheduled a game against the Kentucky Colonels at the Commack Arena on March 23, 1968.

However, when the Colonels and Americans arrived at the arena, they found the court full of holes and laden with condensation from a Ducks hockey game the previous night.

[7] Along with hockey and basketball, the Long Island Arena was used for ice skating, the circus, the Suffolk County Fair and concerts.

[8] During the 1980s and 1990s, the Long Island Arena housed a large, indoor flea market until the facility closed on July 31, 1996.

[9] A shopping center, consisting of Target, Hobby Lobby, and a Whole Foods supermarket,[10] among other stores and restaurants, now stands on the former site of the arena, which was located on the south side of Veterans Highway just west of the Sunken Meadow State Parkway.