Pat LaFontaine
Pat LaFontaine was born in St. Louis, Missouri, United States on February 22nd, 1965 and is the Hockey Player. At the age of 59, Pat LaFontaine biography, profession, age, height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, measurements, education, career, dating/affair, family, news updates, and networth are available.
At 59 years old, Pat LaFontaine has this physical status:
On October 1, 1981, the New York Islanders traded Bob Lorimer and Dave Cameron to the Colorado Rockies for the Rockies' (later market rival New Jersey Devils') first-round draft pick in 1983; LaFontaine was selected by the Islanders in the first round as the third pick overall in the 1983 NHL Entry Draft with that pick. After representing the United States in the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, LaFontaine joined the Islanders in time for the Stanley Cup Finals. His arrival was concurrent with the beginning of the end of the Islanders' dynasty, as the team was steeped deep in aging veterans. The Islanders lost the finals that year to the Edmonton Oilers, ending the team's run of consecutive Stanley Cup championships at four. LaFontaine had a strong performance, scoring two third-period goals during the Islanders' 5–2 loss to the Oilers in the fifth and deciding game of the series.
In the 1987 Stanley Cup playoffs, LaFontaine scored the winning goal in the fourth overtime period of the seventh and decisive game between the Islanders and Washington Capitals, known as the "Easter Epic". The game was started on Saturday, April 18, and concluded just before 2 a.m. on the 19th, Easter Sunday. "It was the most memorable moment in my hockey life," he later recalled. "Even today, wherever I go, people come up to me and start telling me where they were during the Easter Epic."
The Islanders continued to struggle and in 1989, they missed the playoffs for the first time since 1974. In the first game of the Islanders' next playoff series, in 1990, LaFontaine suffered the first of many concussions, after a controversial, open-ice hit by James Patrick of the New York Rangers. He fell on his head and was unconscious while being taken off the ice on a stretcher. The ambulance he took was delayed en route to the hospital by Ranger fans who rocked and pounded it as it left Madison Square Garden. He was lost for the remainder of the series.
The 1990–91 season was a successful season for LaFontaine, but not the Islanders, who finished with a record of 25–45–10. LaFontaine, frustrated with his situation on Long Island, turned down a four-year, $6 million contract offer and refused to report to the Islanders for the start of the 1991–92 NHL season. Three weeks into the season, on October 25, 1991, LaFontaine was traded, along with Randy Wood, to the Buffalo Sabres for four players, including former first overall pick Pierre Turgeon. In only 57 games in 1991–92, LaFontaine scored 46 goals and 93 points.
The following season, LaFontaine recorded a personal-best and team-record 148 points (53 goals and 95 assists). The 148 points are also the most points scored by an American-born player in one season. His play-making ability helped his linemate Alexander Mogilny set a team season record with 76 goals (as of 2020, both LaFontaine's 95 assists, 148 points and Mogilny's 76 goals still stand as the Sabres' team records for a single season). LaFontaine finished as runner-up to Mario Lemieux in the scoring race and earned a spot on the postseason NHL All-Star second team. He was also a finalist for the Hart Memorial Trophy as NHL MVP and the Lady Byng Trophy as the most sportsmanlike player. In 1994–95 he was awarded the Bill Masterton Trophy as the player who best exemplified the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to ice hockey.
LaFontaine is one of five players in NHL history to skate for all three teams based in the state of New York. The others were Mike Donnelly, Jason Dawe, Martin Biron, and Taylor Pyatt. Unique amongst them, LaFontaine played his entire career in the state of New York while Donnelly, Pyatt, Biron and Dawe all played for additional teams outside the state in their careers. LaFontaine once joked about it, saying "I think I'm the only player in history who has been traded twice and hasn't had to change his license plate."
- Selected to five NHL All-Star Games: 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991 and 1993
- Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy winner: 1995
- NHL second All-Star team selection: 1993