Mark Fitzpatrick | |||
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Born |
Toronto, ON, CAN |
November 13, 1968 ||
Height | 6 ft 2 in (188 cm) | ||
Weight | 198 lb (90 kg; 14 st 2 lb) | ||
Position | Goaltender | ||
Caught | Left | ||
Played for |
Los Angeles Kings New York Islanders Florida Panthers Tampa Bay Lightning Chicago Blackhawks Carolina Hurricanes |
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NHL Draft | 27th overall, 1987 Los Angeles Kings |
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Playing career | 1988–2001 |
Mark Fitzpatrick (born November 13, 1968) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender. He moved to Kitimat, British Columbia, where he started minor hockey, when he was ten years old. He won the Memorial Cup twice as a member of the Medicine Hat Tigers before going on to a professional career with the Los Angeles Kings, New York Islanders, Florida Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightning and Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League.
Fitzpatrick was drafted 27th overall in the 1987 NHL Entry Draft by the Los Angeles Kings but only spent a season with the Kings organization before he was traded along with Wayne McBean to the New York Islanders on February 22, 1989 for Kelly Hrudey.
During his time with the Islanders, he contracted Eosinophilia–myalgia syndrome, a potentially fatal neurological disease, which cost him nearly all of the 1990-91 season. He recovered and returned to the ice in February 1992. His efforts in returning to the league after the illness earned him the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy in 1992. On June 20, 1993, with the expansion draft for the Florida Panthers and the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim approaching, the Islanders traded him to the Quebec Nordiques for Ron Hextall and a swap of first-round picks. Four days later, the Panthers claimed him in the expansion draft.