LaFontaine left an impression
By Jim Kelley for ESPN.com
Most anyone who has ever seen Pat LaFontaine play has a
favorite story to tell.
For New York Islanders fans it might be the night he ended a
four-overtime marathon playoff game with a spin-around slap
shot, beating the Washington Capitals in Game 7 of the 1987
division semifinals, one of the greatest National Hockey
League playoff games ever played.
For Buffalo Sabres fans, it might be the night, playing on a
shredded knee, that he fell to the ice but while lying
chest-down at the red line still managed to get a breakaway
pass off to teammate Brad May. The play enabled May to break
in and score the overtime goal that snapped a 10-year string
of first-round disappointments and carried the Sabres past
the Boston Bruins and into the second-round of the 1993
playoffs, a time when the common perception was that the
Sabres might never win a playoff round again.
For New York Rangers fans, well, we'd like to think it was
something other than the night they attempted to tip over
the ambulance in Madison Square Garden while LaFontaine,
trying to get to the hospital because of a blow to the head,
was still in it. Instead, it should be that he scored 62
points in 67 games as a Blueshirt before post-concussion
syndrome terminated his career.
For me, it's personal. I saw a lot of Pat LaFontaine's games
back when I was the beat writer for the Buffalo News. I
chronicled pretty much every goal he scored, every one he
set up, and every win, loss and tie. The memories would fill
a book, but the one I remember best took place off the ice.
LaFontaine always carried a silent pager. When it went off,
LaFontaine would read it, make a graceful exit from whatever
he was doing and quietly make his way to Buffalo's
Children's Hospital. There, he would enter through a private
security gate for which he had a special pass. He would
climb the steps to the floors where the terminally ill
children were preparing to die and sit down next to one of
them.
He was there to grant a wish -- that he would be there
during the final hours of a child's life.
As many times as he could, LaFontaine honored that request.
Sometimes the call would come at one or two in the morning,
when we were just getting off a plane from a road trip. The
rest of us -- players, management, and media -- would head
home, anxious to be with our loved ones or to sleep in our
own beds. LaFontaine headed for the Children's Hospital to
say a prayer, hold a hand, tell a friend about his game and
ease the fear of a child whose life would soon be over far
before its time.
Pat LaFontaine's charitable works, especially with sick
children, have always been well known, but he would never
let me tell that part of the story back then. He hasn't
given me the okay now, but I think you should know. It's not
the reason he's being inducted Monday into the Hockey Hall
of Fame, but it could be. Maybe even should be.
Not that the hockey numbers don't stand alone.
As a hockey player, LaFontaine is every bit deserving of the
honor as any great player at any time. He made an impact the
moment he first burst onto the junior scene, an
American-born star, a major player on the world stage.
He played a single season -- 1982-83 -- in the Quebec Major
Junior Hockey League, during which he led the league with
104 goals, 130 assists and 234 points with the Verdun
Juniors, won the rookie of the year, regular-season MVP,
playoff MVP, best pro prospect and most sportsmanlike player
awards. He broke Guy Lafleur's QMJHL record for points by a
rookie, Mike Bossy's QMJHL record for goals by a rookie and
was named player of the year of the Canadian Major Junior
Hockey League. The Islanders picked him third overall in the
1983 draft.
After a season with the U.S. National Team and Team USA at
the 1988 Olympics, LaFontaine hit the NHL, registering 468
goals and 545 assists for 1,013 points in 865 games, during
a career that spanned 15 seasons with all three New York
state teams. He holds the Buffalo franchise record for most
points in a season (148), no small achievement in a book
dominated by the legendary Gilbert Perreault, who also is in
the Hockey Hall of Fame. He also set up then-teammate
Alexander Mogilny for a franchise high 76 goals during the
1992-93 season.
He missed most of the 1996-97 season, his sixth with the
Sabres, due to post-concussion syndrome. He returned to the
ice after being traded to the Rangers in September, 1997,
and played in the 1998 Olympics before suffering a
career-ending concussion in an accidental collision with
Rangers teammate Mike Keane.
Though he was forced to retire at 33, LaFontaine had long
since established himself as one of the most exciting
players to ever dominate the game, and one of its most
charismatic and caring.
"The Hall is something you think about, but you don't really
come to grips with it until it actually happens to you," he
said. "I'm thrilled and I'm especially happy for Grant (Fuhr),
a former teammate of mine. To be selected to the Hall,
that's some pretty good company to be keeping.
"The other things, well, they are a part of my life now, I
won't turn away just because I'm not in hockey anymore. You
don't have to stop giving back just because your life moves
to another chapter. I met a lot of wonderful people in
Buffalo, people who touched my life and my family's lives in
ways that you never forget."
As a person who has given something back to every community
he ever played in, LaFontaine is every bit the Hall of Famer
as he is a hockey player.
Seldom has the NHL seen a classier act.
- Jim Kelley is the NHL writer for ESPN.com.
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