LaFontaine ‘Fortunate and Honored’ to be Named to the Islanders Hall of Fame

Pat LaFontaine was filled with gratitude when he received the call to the New York Islanders Hall of Fame.

“I’m very fortunate and honored,” LaFontaine said. “When Mathieu Darche called me, I could not have been more excited. It's very meaningful and very humbling that a lot of the guys I was fortunate enough to play with are in the Islanders Hall of Fame, it’s just a tremendous honor.”

LaFontaine will be the 17th inductee into the Islanders Hall of Fame, joining legends like Mike Bossy, Bryan Trottier and Denis Potvin, as well as more recent inductees including Ed Westfall, Patrick Flatley and Ken Morrow. Brent Sutter was inducted last season.

LaFontaine’s special night will take place on Dec. 13 when the Islanders host the Tampa Bay Lightning at UBS Arena. He'll be surrounded by his family - his wife Mary Beth and children Daniel, Brianna, and Sarah - former Islanders teammates and current Islanders Hall of Fame members for an on-ice ceremony.

“It’s a very meaningful time in my life, it's exciting for the family,” LaFontaine said. “I live on Long Island, my wife is from here and it's where I started my career. It’s just a tremendous honor.”

His name and legacy will forever be etched in Islanders history, as LaFontaine will have his name unveiled on the Ring of Honor inside the UBS Arena bowl, as well as his own plaque added to the Islanders Hall of Fame wall. It’s a well-deserved honor, as LaFontaine is one of the most dynamic offensive players in Islanders history, recording 566 points (287G, 279A) in 530 games with the club.

He’s one of just five players to record over a point-per-game (1.07 per game) with the team, alongside Bossy, Trottier, Pierre Turgeon and Ziggy Palffy. He is one of three Islanders to record four 40-goal seasons, hitting the mark every year from 1987-91. His 287 goals are tied – with Sutter – for seventh all-time and he still ranks ninth overall in points.

With 468 goals and 1,013 points over a 15-year career that also included stops with the Buffalo Sabres and New York Rangers, as well as an appearance in the 1984 Olympics, LaFontaine was inducted into both the Hockey Hall of Fame and the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame in 2003. While his induction into the team Hall of Fame was seemingly inevitable, the St. Louis, Missouri native said he’s especially honored to be recognized by the franchise where he started his NHL career.

“When you get into this game, you want to be on a great team, do the best you can and hopefully win championships and play a long, healthy career,” LaFontaine said. “You don’t think about getting into hall of fames, but it's really the highest honor you can give a player within any organization.”

The Islanders selected LaFontaine third overall in 1983, just three years after the franchise won its first Stanley Cup. The 1980 Stanley Cup clincher is a vivid memory for LaFontaine, who remembered doing chores and rushing to the TV just in time to watch John Tonelli set up Bob Nystrom for the Cup-winning goal in 1980.

LaFontaine was 15 years old at the time, unsure of where Long Island was on a map but quickly took to an encyclopedia to find out. Unbeknownst to his teenage self, he’d line up with Tonelli and Nystrom in his NHL debut. They’re still good friends to this day.

"In my very first NHL game, I looked to my right, and it's Bobby Nystrom. I looked to my left, it's John Tonelli," LaFontaine recalled. "If you would have told that to young American boy just three years earlier that was going to happen, there's just no way. It was really every dream come true for me."

Islanders fans loved LaFontaine’s blazing speed, quick hands and clutch goals – but perhaps no goal was more memorable than what became known as the Easter Epic.

LaFontaine put an end to the marathon game that bled into Easter Sunday morning, scoring at the 8:47 mark of the fourth overtime period to take Game Seven of the 1987 Patrick Division Semifinals against the Washington Capitals. He played in the marathon game with three other future Islanders Hall of Fame Inductees in Bryan Trottier, Patrick Flatley and Ken Morrow.

To this day, LaFontaine still gets asked about his heroics in that game, with springtime serving as an annual reminder.

“It’s funny, anywhere I go people still talk about it. I’m reminded of it whenever there’s a Game Seven in the first round happening or if it’s close to Easter,” LaFontaine said. “It was a special time, special memory and special team. I’m glad it was coined as the Easter Epic, because it really was epic.”

Epic is a good way to describe LaFontaine’s career and contribution to the Islanders as well. His induction ceremony on December 13 should also be epic in its own right.