Congrats, Patty!
(Reprinted from the New York Islanders Web Site)
June 11, 2003 -
Congratulations, Patty, you're a Hall of Famer!
When you look at the Islander career of Pat LaFontaine, you just have to wonder in amazement regarding what he accomplished as the former Islander star was elected to the NHL Hall of Fame on Wednesday.
By the mid-1980s, many of the Islander stars of the last 15 years were no longer around. Some were traded, some faded, and some had succumbed to various injuries. But like their parents and older siblings, the kids of the post-Dynasty era needed players they could get behind and idolize.
What we got was St. Patty.
The name Pat LaFontaine was heard around the fan circles ever since the Isles drafted the center 3rd overall in 1983. We knew he was an American and an Olympian. We heard about his meta-human exploits in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (his 104 goals, 130 assists, 234 points in 1982-83 are still league records). But, as with any rookie, the world had no idea what it truly had until we saw him live.
LaFontaine, and fellow rookie Pat Flatley, sparked a stagnant Islander team immediately after their call-ups in 1983-84. LaFontaine potted 13 goals in the last 15 games of that season and didn't stop until the Drive for Five ended. The next season, his first full year in the NHL, he finished 6th on the team in goals with 19. That would be his lowest goal total during his career as an Islander.
30 goals in 1985-86. 38 in 86-87. 47 in 87-88. 45, 54, 41 in each of the next three years. The guy was unbelievable. Not unbelievable because of the numbers alone, but because of the way these goals were scored. Diving, flying, skating, falling. You name it, he could score while doing it.
Being a modest 5-10, 180 pounds, it never stopped LaFontaine from attempting to skate through people like a ghost floating through a wall. He would skate with reckless abandon. His speed enabled him to create the momentum he needed to do the fearless things he wanted to do. And, after every goal, he would pump his fist and cheer as if it were the most important goal of his life.
As valuable as he was an offensive threat, perhaps LaFontaine's true importance to the Islanders was as a fan magnet. His on-ice maneuvers kept people in the seats long after the names Smith, Nystrom, Bossy and Tonelli became less visible at game time. Off the ice, his classy demeanor, generous heart and good looks (complete with "Charles-in-Charge/Rick Springfield--I wish that I had Jesse's Girl" hair cut) caused almost every kid 15 and younger to beg their parents for a number 16 "LaFONTAINE" jersey.
Through all his spectacular goals and public relations work, LaFontaine's greatest moment as an Islander may have come on the 1987 Patrick Division Semi-Final playoff series against the Washington Capitals. For the sake of the kids of today who may not know what happened in that series, it merits a recounting.
The Islanders battled back from a three games-to-one deficit to force a Game Seven in the old Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland. The Isles had gone from a league powerhouse to a scrappy collection of kids and old men. They would be without Denis Potvin, Mike Bossy and Brent Sutter for Game Seven. The Caps were trying to shake their mantle of playoff chokers.
Back and forth for three periods, the two teams traded one heart-stopping scoring chance after another. For 60 minutes, goalies Bob Mason and Kelly Hrudey made save after save. Tied at three, the game went into overtime. And overtime. And overtime. And overtime...
That' right. FOUR extra sessions.
At last, at 8:47 of the fourth overtime (Easter Sunday), the hero arrived. LaFontaine collected a pass from Gord Dineen near the top of the right face-off circle, turned around and fired a slap shot on Mason. As if it were scripted, the crowd fell silent. And all that could be heard in the Cap Centre was a "plink." The puck clanked off the far post and behind Mason. There was an eerie silence for a second. Then the chaos started.
The Islanders poured off the bench and towards LaFontaine. Even in their exhausted, oxygen-depraved daze, the team smothered the young center. And although they may not have realized it at the time, that Islander team had come out from the shadow of the Dynasty and created their own pocket in team history.
It's no coincidence that LaFontaine scored that goal. It wasn't a fluke that he alone ended the "Easter Epic" and made that team special. He wasn't just in the right place at the right time when Bossy and Potvin were hurt.
This was who Pat LaFontaine was. To the kids of the late 1980s, he was the Islanders. We watched him in the All-Star game four years in a row, had the posters, the trading cards and, eventually, played as him in the video games. By 1989, in a sense, the franchise had moved. It had gone from Westfall and Resch, to Potvin and Bossy and now, to LaFontaine.
To be fair and honest, the tragedy of LaFontaine's time as an Islander was that the team could never surround him with complementary talent. As he continued to score goals and thrill fans, Al Arbour and Bill Torrey brought in winger after winger to play along side LaFontaine. None of which gave him any help. The perfect example of this was the mysterious Finnish winger Mikko Makela, who Stan Fischler once wrote, "Would look like Bossy one night a month and then go into hibernation."
Even now, you can look on any Islanders team picture and spot Pat LaFontaine right away. He's the one who looks like he'd rather be done with the photo-ops and on the ice playing. And those of us who watched the man work his magic, wish he would, too.
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