LAS VEGAS — It’s said you never forget your first love. For hockey writers, that sentiment translates to your first beat, and for Larry Brooks that was the pre-dynasty New York Islanders circa 1976.

The feeling turned out to be mutual, as The Post reached out to a handful of vintage-era Islanders for their thoughts on the passing of the Hall of Fame hockey columnist, who died Thursday morning at age 75 after a brief bout with cancer .

The news hit these players — still among the toughest to ever lace up skates — like a punch in the chops from a Big Bad Bruin or a stick to the groin by a Broad Street Bully.

Butch Goring was “shocked.”

Bobby Nystrom “destroyed.”

Denis Potvin “terribly sad.”

Their relationships with Brooks were born in an era when the dynamic between athlete and scrib

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