Islanders Bring Joy and Gifts to Pediatric Hospitals Across Long Island

Nine-year-old Santiago wears his red Santa hat and holds on to his silver jingle bells in his hospital room. He’s in pediatric care for the long haul, but he cheers up his nurses and doctors with his positivity - and his holiday spirit, this time of year.

On Thursday, he was serenaded by the New York Islanders, as Kyle MacLean, Adam Boqvist, Max Shabanov and Alexander Romanov all sang “jingle bells” around his hospital bed.

“He’s a good kid, we were so happy to see him smile off that,” MacLean said. “It’s really nice that we’re able to do this. These kids are going through tough times, it’s not easy for them or their families, so it was nice to see them smile and cheer up a bit.”

The Islanders spread out across six hospitals in the Metro NY Area, distributing over 800 toys that were hand-picked by the Islanders’ wives and girlfriends earlier in the month. No one wants to spend the holiday season in the hospital, but it was rewarding for the Islanders to give back to kids and families who were dealt a tough hand.

“Overall, to get a smile from a patient, it makes us happy because they’re happy,” Boqvist said. “The most important goal for us is to try to make their day when they’re going through a tough time.”

For a few rookies on the team – Matthew Schaefer, Max Shabanov, Cal Ritchie and Marshall Warren – Thursday was their first time participating in the annual tradition.

Schaefer recognized a lot of the toys and gifts, not only because he’s 18 and isn’t too far removed from the toy realm, but because he sees a lot of those toys at Matt Martin’s house. Schaefer enjoyed being able to relate to the kids and take part in the Isles holiday tradition.

“It means the world,” Schaefer said. “When we do things like this, I love it, I know everyone loves doing it. Whether you’re talking to kids about playing video games and things like that, it takes their mind off things.”

A lot of the Islanders are fathers themselves and seeing children go through tough times tugs at the heart strings.

“I couldn’t imagine,” said Bo Horvat. “Having kids of my own, it can’t be easy. I can’t imagine what they’re going through. To shed some light on a tough time, doing this, it says a lot about our organization and the group of guys that we have.”

Three-year-old Isaiah got to hang out with the Islanders in the playroom, feeling both comfortable and excited around the players, who got to play Santa for a day. Isaiah played with Mr. Potato Head with a group of players.

“He’s autistic, so he likes to be by himself,” said Shellsy Saravia, Isaiah’s mom. “So the fact that he sat down next to them and played games was really cute to see. It was so nice of the players to come in and do that.”

For some patients, the timing worked out just right, where the Islanders visit landed on discharge day. Two-year-old Cartier walked out with a stuffed teddy bear in-hand after getting to meet a group of the players.

A few other Islanders were in the singing mood, as Anthony Duclair led a group of his teammates, including JG Pageau, Ilya Sorokin and Pierre Engvall, to sing “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” to a patient.

The Islanders have been all about joy this season, both on and off the ice, and they brought that those good vibes to hospitals for a good cause on Thursday.

“We’re just looking to have fun, and that’s the main goal of what we’re trying to do every single day,” Horvat said. “And we wanted to bring that energy as well for these kids and the people in the hospital. It was a good day, and plenty more to come.”