In charity Alumni Classic, former Islanders defeat old Rangers rivals

The animosity no longer courses through their veins. Time has a way of making grudges and slights fade.

But the competitive juices never truly disappear — even among friends.

“One guy I’m going to talk [to] probably is Stephane Matteau,” a grinning Pierre Turgeon said before the Islanders alumni topped their Rangers counterparts, 11-9, in the 2023 Alumni Classic at Northwell Health Ice Center in East Meadow on Sunday.

“He’s a good friend of mine. I grew up with him. I love the man. I love the guy.’’

For the second straight year, the alumni of both organizations played a charity game to raise money for Northwell Health Foundation. According to Jay Beberman, the director of communications for the Islanders, the game raised $50,000 for the healthcare system. The money is earmarked for Northwell Health’s Behavioral Health Initiative.

“The [Rangers] do a lot of stuff, the alumni,” Matteau told Newsday. “It’s our second year doing it. We loved it. We loved the experience. I guess they raised some good money last year. And us, the alumni, we’re always pushing for more games like this. We wish we could play against the Islanders, the Devils, but this is our second year and we’re looking forward to it.”

After the game, the former Islanders and Rangers participated in a meet-and-greet with fans.

The game was the culmination of the Islanders’ Alumni Weekend. It began with a group dinner at the River Cafe in Brooklyn on Friday night, and the former players caught their descendants’ 5-2 loss to Carolina on Saturday at UBS Arena.

The highlight of the weekend?

“Just to see everybody,” Benoit Hogue said. “We haven’t played yet, so hopefully we can beat the Rangers again. That would be a nice highlight. But [just seeing] everybody and see where we’re at in our lives and what we’re doing and stuff like that. You didn’t want the night to end because there are so many people [to] talk to, but I think that was the highlight: to get together and see the guys that [took] the time to come to Long Island.”

Hogue praised Islanders co-owners Scott Malkin and Jon Ledecky for their efforts in honoring — and welcoming — the franchise’s alumni back into the fold.

“When you’re retired, you’re not that much involved [with the team]. But when you do stuff like this, like Jon [Ledecky has been] doing the last couple years, I think it’s great,” Hogue said. “To reunite the guys together and then to build a friendship [and] exchange [phone numbers] . . . keep the guys together, that’s nice.”

The Islanders alumni led 7-0 after the first of two 25-minute periods.

In the second half of the game, Alex Kovalev recorded a hat trick and Darius Kasparaitis (who was “traded” from the Islanders to the Rangers during the intermission), Ron Duguay, Jack Kann (a Northwell employee who plays on the healthcare system’s club team), Brian Mullen, Aaron Voros and Brian Boyle added goals.

Bryan McCabe had a hat trick for the Islanders and Johnny Boychuk scored twice. Turgeon, Hogue, Kip Brennan, Zenon Konopka, Marty Reasoner and Mark Streit scored a goal each.