Saturday, September 27, 2014

Former Islander Battling Lung Cancer

According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, former Islander forward JP Parise is battling stage 4 lung cancer.  He was diagnosed earlier this year during the Sochi Olympics.

Parise played parts of 4 seasons for the Islanders and was one of the key players on the 1975 team that overcame a 3-0 series deficit to defeat the Penguins before losing a hard fought series to the eventual Stanley Cup Champion Flyers.  In 240 games for the Islanders, Parise managed to put up 171 points.  He also managed to tally 34 points in 41 playoff games while with the Islanders.

With this year being the 40th anniversary of the 1975 team, as well as the last year at the Coliseum, it is time for that team to come back and get honored.  At the same time, they would also be introduced to a new generation.  All attention is always paid to the all the dynasty players and rightly so.  However, this 1975 team helped mold some of those guys into the players they eventually became and they are really never talked about unless there's a 3-0 playoff series which is a shame.

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