If there was ever a King Clancy Award for NHL owners, New York Islanders co-owner Jon Ledecky would be the odds-on favorite to win the hardware every year.

If there was ever a King Clancy Award for NHL owners, New York Islanders co-owner Jon Ledecky would be the odds-on favorite to win the hardware every year.

Awarded "to the player who best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and has made a noteworthy humanitarian contribution in his community," Ledecky does everything he can to help bring smiles to the faces in the Islanders community.

There's one event that Ledecky does year in and year out, an emotional event that has to do with hockey but means so much more.

On Friday, Ledecky, along with Sparky, travels around Long Island to visit sick kids and adults, bringing smiles to their faces in times when smirks are few and far between. 

Not only do these die-hard Islanders fans get to meet the owner of their favorite team, who gifts them with Islanders attire, but Ledecky also invites them to his suite for a playoff game at UBS Arena. 

It's an emotional time, filled with smiles and laughs, bringing a tear to the people getting the tickets but also a tear to the eyes of anyone who witnesses the interactions.

Brendan Lauth, a 26-year-old Islanders fan from Holbrook who was diagnosed with Leukemia, was at a loss for words.

"I was just thinking about this, the season and the team and all the adversity they kind of went through, it just helped me get through it," Lauth said. "Because, the team was struggling during some moments in the season. It was really great to see how they ended up overcoming a lot of that stuff and a lot of the adversity and things and ended up finding a way to be here, be in the playoffs, and a lot of that was really a driving factor in helping me get through a lot of things. 

"I watched a lot of games with my dad. My dad and I couldn't really go out too much, so my dad and I would spend time together, watching the games and enjoying ourselves when watching them."

"It's like they're scoring the ultimate goal when they recover from diseases and other things that are going on in their lives, the loss of loved ones, the loss of parents at a young age," Ledecky said. "What's great is their spirit and the lack of self-pity. It's showing that they want to put the puck in the net and that they're still here, fighting.” 

Ledecky visited another three families on the trip: The Brohm Family, with the father Kevin, battling colon cancer and also dealing with the unexpected loss of his wife in the fall, Anthony Musso, a 12-year-old, who spent months in the hospital, and 15-year-old Dan Grogan.

"It's a really touching day for the Islander family because we get to meet so many people who are going through so many difficult things,” Ledecky said. “It's taking a bit of their day and making it brighter."