Marc Laforge

{{Short description|Canadian ice hockey player}}

{{Infobox ice hockey player

| position = Defence

| shoots = Left

| height_ft = 6

| height_in = 3

| weight_lb = 215

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1968|1|3|mf=y}}

| birth_place = Sudbury, Ontario, Canada

| career_start = 1987

| career_end = 2001

| draft = 32nd overall

| draft_year = 1986

| draft_team = Hartford Whalers

| played_for = Hartford Whalers
Edmonton Oilers

}}

Marc Laforge (born January 3, 1968) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman. He was drafted in the second round, 32nd overall, by the Hartford Whalers in the 1986 NHL Entry Draft. He played nine games with the Whalers in the 1989–90 season before they traded him to the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for Cam Brauer on March 6, 1990.[http://oilfans.com/playerStats.php?firstname=Marc&lastname=Laforge OilFans.com: #20 Marc Laforge] He would eventually play five games with the Oilers during the 1993–94 season.

After playing three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League with the Kingston Canadians, the enforcer Laforge joined the Sudbury Wolves for the 1987–88 OHL season. Fourteen games into the season, Laforge was involved a postgame brawl with the Guelph Platers. Laforge attacked eight different Platers while they were involved in other fights, and he was also accused of driving Plater goaltender Andy Helmuth's head into the ice. Laforge was given a two-year suspension from the league (the equivalent of a lifetime ban for a 19-year-old in a league with an age limit of 21) for his actions, ending his career as a junior player.[http://www.prohockeyfights.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=21&sid=ecb103ac78c8285318aba4c67ef70781 Rough House Hockey: Marc Laforge articles] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110715120507/http://www.prohockeyfights.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=21&sid=ecb103ac78c8285318aba4c67ef70781 |date=2011-07-15 }} Laforge later referred to the incident as "the dumbest thing I've ever done."[http://members.tripod.com/nhltoughguys/news/97.htm Marc Laforge still fighting, Toronto Star, November 8, 1998]

Laforge amassed over 3,000 penalty minutes in his professional hockey career. As a junior player, he set the Kingston Canadians all-time record for career penalty minutes with 686.[http://www.kingstonfrontenacs.com/history/canadians-ohl.html All-time roster for the Kingston Canadians (OHL)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070827085255/http://www.kingstonfrontenacs.com/history/canadians-ohl.html |date=2007-08-27 }} In his fourteen-game NHL career, he scored no points and spent 64 minutes in the penalty box. In addition, he holds the Manitoba Moose record for penalty minutes in a single period, tallying 37 in the first period of a 1997 game against the Long Beach Ice Dogs.[http://www.moosehockey.com/history/individualrecords.php Manitoba Moose Individual Records] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071025093056/http://www.moosehockey.com/history/individualrecords.php |date=2007-10-25 }}