If you’ve ever been to an Islanders game, you’ve likely heard the familiar sound of the organ echoing through Nassau Coliseum, Barclays Center, and now UBS Arena. Though it might go unnoticed by some, it’s become a key part of the game-day atmosphere. For the past 28 years, Paul Cartier has been behind the keys, becoming a beloved fixture at Islanders home games. What began as simple fandom all the way back in 1972 has grown into a prominent piece of the Islanders.
“My brother, who is 10 years older than me, brought me to the first game the team played in 1972,” Cartier said. “From that moment on, I’ve bled orange and blue. I was in the building when we won the first cup in overtime. I was technically the backup organist at that time, so I wasn’t playing, but I was there, and nothing can ever match that.”
Cartier’s start with the Islanders began when he was only 19 years old. He was a student at nearby Hofstra University when his professor approached him with a very unique opportunity, to be the backup organist for the Islanders.
“The guy who was the organist at the time was one of my professors at Hofstra,” Cartier said. “And I mentioned that I go to the games all the time, and he told me to stop at the organ. It turned out at the time, they were looking to bring in an indoor soccer team called the New York Arrows, and he really didn’t want any part of that, so I went and started playing for the Arrows. He did one more year with the Islanders after that, and then I jumped in there.”
Cartier’s time playing the organ goes all the way back to when he was eight years old, visiting his aunt’s house, Cartier would sit down and play for hours, teaching himselfs different styles and songs. After noticing his love for playing, his parents bought him his own. But after some time, the one-keyboard organ wasn’t enough of a challenge for Cartier, so he switched his focus to a two-keyboard organ, the one you will likely find him playing today.
“We went to look at the instruments, but the guy there said I should take a year of piano lessons,” Cartier said. “So we did that, and I marked the calendar for exactly one year later. On that exact day, we went back and bought the two keyboard organ. My parents never had to get me to practice, I always went right home and started practicing, they never had to worry about me being ready for my next lesson.”
Although the particular organ that Cartier plays is not the same one that was used at Nassau Coliseum, it is the same model and make, and that was an intentional decision made by Cartier, as well as the New York Islanders.
“One thing I tried to do when we moved is to keep it sounding like an Islanders game,” Cartier said. “It always needs to sound the same. And I was very much into that idea when we originally moved to the Barclays Center. We were going to have a new building, but I wanted people to walk in and say, ‘It’s an Islanders game, it still sounds the same, and we’ve achieved that goal.”
Being the organ player for the Islanders opened Cartier up to a new opportunity, becoming the organist for the New York Yankees, an opportunity that was created due to his time with the Islanders.
“As someone that already had a background in sports, I already had the required skill sets,” Cartier said. “You have to be able to listen and react at a moment’s notice, and knowing the game helps a lot too.”
When you walk into an Islanders or Yankees game, no matter what time of the year or the building it’s in, one thing remains the same. The organ will be played, and Cartier is likely the one behind the keys.
