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In this section we remember those who
have been a part
of the New York Islanders Family and have passed on.
 |
Alexander Karpovtsev
April 7, 1970 - September 7, 2011 |
| Alexander Karpovtsev
was acquired by GM Mike Milbury from Chicago during the 2003-04 season for
a 5th round pick in 2005. After a delay in reporting to the team,
Karpovtsev appeared in 3 games with the Islanders, recording one assist.
He then failed to finish the season with the team. Karpovtsev also played
for NY Rangers, Toronto & Florida. Died in plane crash along with the
entire Yaroslavl Lokomotiv hockey team as an assistant coach. |
 |
Josef Vasicek
September 12, 1980 - September 7, 2011 |
| Josef Vasicek played
for the Islanders during the 2007-08 season after he was signed to a one
year deal as a free agent by GM Garth Snow. He recorded 16 goals & 35
points in 81 games that season. Despite that respectable season he went
unsigned and left to play for Lokomotiv in 2008. Besides NY, Vasicek
played for Nashville & Carolina, where he got his name on the Cup in
2006. Died in plane crash along with the entire Yaroslavl Lokomotiv hockey
team. |
 |
Brad McCrimmon
March 29, 1959 - September 7, 2011 |
| Brad McCrimmon was
appointed his first coaching position by the Islanders as an Assistant
Coach in 1997. He held that position for two seasons until 1999 assisting
Rick Bowness, Mike Milbury & Bill Stewart. Went on to hold the same
position with Calgary, Atlanta & Detroit. McCrimmon played in the NHL
with Boston, Philadelphia, Calgary, Detroit, Hartford & Phoenix from
1979-97. Died in a plane crash along with the entire Yaroslavl Lokomotiv
hockey team as their head coach. |
 |
Autry Erickson
January 25, 1938 - August 21, 2010 |
| Autry Erickson was
with the Islanders from 1972-74 first serving as their head Western scout
in 1972-73. He was named Assistant GM to Bill Torrey for the 1973-74
season. Erickson also performed some assistant coaching duties during the
Islanders first year. Played in the NHL with Boston, Chicago, Toronto
& Oakland between 1959-70. Erickson died in August 2010 after a long
battle with cancer. |
 |
George Michael
March 24, 1939 - December 24, 2009 |
| George Michael
worked three years as the Islanders color commentator for WOR-TV from 1974
to 1977. In the early 1980's he helped to form and later hosted the
nationally syndicated sports highlight program "The George Michael
Sports Machine", which lasted until March 2007. Michael also worked
for WRC-TV (Wash., DC) and WABC-AM (NY). He reportedly died from
complications of chronic lymphocytic leukemia. |
 |
Ron Kennedy
May 7, 1953 - July 10, 2009 |
| Ron Kennedy was the
Islanders fifth round pick (65th overall) in the 1973 NHL Amateur Draft.
After stints in the minors & Europe he began coaching in the WHL in
1988 and later would serve as Lorne Henning's assistant coach during the
1994-95 lockout shortened season. Coached the Austrian team in the 1998
and 2002 Olympics. He died of a cancerous brain tumor. |
 |
Bob Lawrence
Oct. 5, 1938 - June 12, 2009 |
| Bob Lawrence was the
radio voice of the New York Islanders from 1975-80 with the radio station
WGBB. He is best known for his famous call on the afternoon of May 24,
1980 when the Islanders won their first Stanley Cup in OT over
Philadelphia. He began as a color analyst to play by play man John
Sterling, who left in 1978. He passed away from lung cancer. |
|
Nathan Marsters
Jan. 28, 1980 - June 8, 2009 |
| Nathan Marsters was a goaltender
with RPI from 2000-04. Following a season in the ECHL in 2004-05 he took
part in an Islanders/Sound Tigers rookie camp at Shelton, CT in 2005.
Marsters didn't earn a job in the Islanders organization, but went on to
play in the AHL, CHL & ECHL as well as Germany until 2007-08. He was
killed in an automobile accident in West Lincoln, Ontario when a deer
crashed through the windshield of his truck. |
 |
Roy Boe
Sept. 14, 1929 - June 8, 2009 |
| Roy Boe was the founding owner of
the New
York Islanders after Long Island received an expansion franchise
in 1971. An entrepreneur of business, Boe bought the ABA's New York Nets
in 1969. His first hire with the Islanders was GM Bill Torrey. Following
some mismanagement of funds Boe was forced to sell the Islanders to
minority owner John O. Pickett, Jr. He went on to survive cancer in 1998.
Cause of death was heart failure. For more in depth profile, read
here. |
 |
Hank Bassen
Dec. 6, 1932 - May 29, 2009 |
| Hank Bassen was
primarily a backup goaltender in the NHL for the Chicago Blackhawks,
Detroit Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penguins between 1954-68. Following his
retirement, he would later join the Islanders staff as head of Western
scouting from 1972-74. His son Bob would later play for the Islanders from
1985-89. He died of a heart attack. |
 |
Stefan Blaho
June 22, 1985 - Aug. 30, 2006 |
| Stefan Blaho was
the New York Islanders 4th round pick, 120th overall in the 2003 NHL
Entry Draft. He was killed in an automobile accident in which he was
the passenger at the time. The accident took place near the Slovak
town of Krasnany. The driver, 32 year old Marcel Hanzal, was found to
be intoxicated and could face criminal charges. Blaho played in the
OHL with Sudbury and Sarnia from 2003 to 2006. Profile |
 |
Milt "Pappy" Papps
Died in May, 2006 |
| Milt Papps was a
former Long Island Ducks goalie and assistant trainer for the Islanders
during the 1973-74 season. A World War II veteran, Milt also was goalie
instructor on the Island. He worked alongside Nick Garen with the
Islanders and was considered an expert equipment repairman. Papps was
responsible for the day to day equipment needs of the players. |
 |
Gerry "Tex" Ehman
Nov. 4, 1932 - Mar. 23, 2006 |
| The Islanders long
time scout of 20 years succumbed to lung cancer in March 2006. As a good
friend of coach Al Arbour, Ehman joined the Islanders back in 1974. A
former AHL scoring champion, Ehman was a teammate of Arbour's on the 1964
Stanley Cup Champion Toronto Maple Leafs. He later went on to play for the
California/Oakland Seals. Ehman served as Assistant GM for the Islanders
during their Cup years. Profile |
 |
Nick Garen
1921 - Jan. 10, 2003 |
| Nick Garen was an
NHL trainer for the Chicago Blackhawks, New York Islanders and New York
Rangers in a career spanning nearly 40 years, died Jan. 10, 2003 of a
stroke in Middletown, NY at age 82. Began in 1945 with the Blackhawks.
Garen served with the Islanders from 1972-74, their first two years of
existence. |
 |
Hal Laycoe
June 23, 1922 - April 29, 1998 |
| Hal Laycoe was a
former NHL defenseman with the New York Rangers, Montreal Canadiens and
Boston Bruins between 1945-56. After his playing career, he became a coach
in the WHL and later with the NHL's Los Angeles Kings and Vancouver
Canucks. In 1982, Laycoe joined the Islanders scouting staff and served in
that position until 1993, eleven years. |
 |
Bryan Lefley
Oct. 18, 1948 - Oct. 29, 1997 |
| Bryan Lefley was an
original Islander obtained in the 1972 Expansion Draft from the New York
Rangers. He was later selected by the Kansas City Scouts in the 1974
Expansion Draft. In 1997, Lefley went to Europe to play and coach in
Duesseldorf, Germany. In October of 1979, he died in a car accident while
returning home from a game between HC Bolzano and Dynamo Moscow.
Reportedly, Lefley fell asleep at the wheel and hit an oncoming truck. |
 |
Bob Cook
Jan. 6, 1946 - 1994 ? |
| Robert Arthur Cook
was an original Islander acquired midway through the inaugural 1972-73
season from Detroit along with Ralph Stewart in exchange for Brian
Lavender & Ken Murray. He was later sold to Minnesota in January of
1975. According to the NHL's Official Guide & Record Book, Cook died
sometime in 1994. Nowhere else has his death been documented. If anyone
knows any more information, please email Tom@islesinfo.com.
Profile |
 |
James Fullerton
1909 - 1991 |
| James Fullerton
served as the New York Islanders Head U.S. Colleges Scout from 1972-76. He
played a role in the drafting of Bob Lorimer from Michigan Tech in 1973
and Dave Langevin from UMD in 1974. Fullerton was a legendary coach for
the Brown Bears during the 1960's. He was inducted into the U.S. Hockey
Hall of Fame in 1992 as a coach, a year after his death. The James H.
Fullerton award is given in his honor. |
 |
Duncan MacPherson
Feb. 3, 1966 - Aug. 11, 1989 |
| Duncan MacPherson was
the Islanders first round pick, 20th overall in the 1984 NHL Entry Draft.
Projected as a bruising defenseman, Duncan's promise later dwindled
because he was slow footed. After 3 years with the Springfield Indians he
took a job as player/coach with the Dundee Tigers in Scotland. Before he
could get there, Duncan went missing while snowboarding in the Austrian
Alps. His body was later found frozen in 2003, 14 years later. Profile |
 |
Brian "Spinner" Spencer
Sept. 3, 1949 - June 3, 1988 |
| Brian Spencer was an
original Islander that was acquired from the Toronto Maple Leafs in the
1972 Expansion Draft. He was later traded to the Buffalo Sabres for Doug
Rombough Mar. 10, 1974. At the end of his playing career, Brian moved to
Florida in 1980 and got involved with drugs and the wrong people. He was
accused of murder but later found innocent. In June 1988, Spencer was shot
in the heart by a drug dealer. |
 |
Bruce Melanson
June 11, 1966 - Jan. 4, 1985 |
| Bruce Melanson was
the Islanders second round pick, 41st overall in the 1984 NHL Entry Draft.
After a practice with the Oshawa Generals in January of 1985 Melanson was
complaining of chest pain and weakness. He was rushed to the hospital
after collapsing and pronounced dead at the age of 18. Cause of death was
a rare heart disease called Wolff Parkinson White Syndrome. Oshawa players
wore black armbands for the rest of the season in his memory. Profile |
 |
Henry Saraceno
Died in 1979 |
| Henry Saraceno
served as the Islanders Head Scout in Eastern Canada (Quebec) from 1972 to
1979. He is credited with convincing former GM Bill Torrey to draft Mike
Bossy with the 15th overall pick in the 1977 NHL Draft. He past away in
1979, and that same year his son Mario Saraceno took over Henry's position
with the Islanders. Mario has been with the Islanders ever since.(30
years) Profile |
|
Derek Black
Dec. 23, 1952 - Late 1973 |
| Derek Black was the Islanders sixth
round pick, 81st overall in the 1972 NHL Draft. He was a highly touted
prospect for the Islanders and saw a lot of ice time in their first training
camp while playing on a line with Billy Harris and Lorne Henning.
Unfortunately, Black was diagnosed with cancer towards the end of the
1972-73 season and died in late 1973. |
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