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A Bout To Be Father Of The Year

(from the Denver Post)

Devoted dad and Avs player Ian Laperriere says his sons (Tristan, 6, above, and Zachary, 4, bottom photo on the ice) will play sports to learn teamwork and important life lessons. 

(John Leyba, The Denver Post)

By Adrian Dater
The Denver Post

June 15, 2008 - Fighters are always the nicest guys. It is a common saying in hockey, and Ian Laperriere has done nothing but keep it true in his NHL career. 

Need a player to give some time for a good cause? Call Lappy. Need a player to say a few words to a group of kids at a school? Call Lappy. 

And when the American Diabetes Association and the Denver Father's Day Council went looking for father of the year candidates, they called Lappy. This month, Laperriere was named one of the city's four fathers of the year by the ADA. 

The Avalanche forward is a father to two young sons, Tristan and Zachary, and a father figure to the countless kids he has given his time to here and in the other three NHL cities he's played. 

"I don't think there's too many things more important than helping kids," Laperriere said. "Even if it's just the littlest thing, like saying 'Hi' to a kid. They remember that. My dad was like that, and so I'm just an extension of him. Some kids don't have fathers around, which is sad." 

(John Leyba, The Denver Post)

A model citizen, father 

Laperriere's late father, Michel, "taught me to just always respect other people and do the right thing," he said. "Not that I'm perfect by any stretch. You're always trying to be a better example to your kids, but I try to be to them how my father was to me." 

On a recent day in the Laperriere household, Tristan, 6, is excited about seeing the latest "Indiana Jones" movie. Zachary, 4, is asleep on the family-room floor, but soon awakes from the rustle of visitors, and from pawing by one of the family dogs. 

"I've seen all the 'Indiana Jones' movies," Tristan, nicknamed "Titou" by his parents, tells a visitor. 

"Me, too," his father says. "I think I get more wide-eyed at the special effects than he does." 

Laperriere and his wife, Magali, met about 18 years ago, at a "Say No to Drugs" charity benefit, when Laperriere was a junior player. With career stops in New York, St. Louis, Los Angeles and Denver, Laperriere has been highly active in the communities he's landed in.

"Lappy is always the first to volunteer in the room for anything in the community," teammate Ben Guite said. "We try to beat him to it, but we never can." 

In Denver, he is especially involved with the Ronald McDonald House. 

"He's been great. He comes in on his own a lot, just to play with the kids, things like pool and air hockey," said Kendra Ingles, director of house operations for the Denver Ronald McDonald House. "He's so willing to help in anything he can, and he took some kids into the locker room this year, which they really loved." 

Splitting the difference 

The juxtaposition of Laperriere's off-ice demeanor to that on the ice fits with a long hockey tradition. At his job, Laperriere talks trash and hits men at times in the face with his fists. Off the job, he's patting kids on the head, signing autographs for one and all, and being the community pillar. 

"Well, I don't earn my living by making tons of fancy plays and scoring lots of goals," Laperriere said, laughing. "In junior, I scored a lot of points (finishing second in the Quebec Major Junior League in 1992-93 with 140 points, to former Av Rene Corbet, for the Drummondville Voltigeurs). But the first thing my father would always ask me after a game was whether I finished my checks or not. I think he knew maybe I wouldn't be as big a scorer if I made it to the NHL." 

Laperriere said he does not want to be a pushy father to his kids, though he admits he plans to enroll them in hockey leagues someday. 

"If they want to play hockey and try for that as a career, great. But if they want to be a schoolteacher or a fireman or whatever, that's great too," he said. "I know they will play sports, because I think it's a great way to learn teamwork and things like that in life. But whatever they want to do, as long as they're happy with it, then I'm happy." 

Devoted dad and Avs player Ian Laperriere with his son Zachary, 4. (John Leyba, The Denver Post)