It’s icing that all hockey fans love.
A diehard New York Islanders fan became the team’s unofficial sweets-slinging “Cookie Lady” after the team showed her late son kindness in his dying days.
Long Island mom Lisa Ohland, 58, has been bringing 100-200 cookies to some home games at UBS Arena to feed fans, arena staff and the broadcast crews in the years since she lost her 38-year-old son, Jason, to cancer in 2022.
“His health was declining from cancer,” Ohland said. “Our seats are very low to the ice, but he could not make it down. So the Islanders were gracious enough to give us some handicap seating for him.”
The Seatauket woman, who manages a warehouse as her day job, first baked up a storm for owner Jon Ledecky and his team as a thank you for how they treated Jason, who had been attending games into the final weeks of his life.
“They loved what we brought in. Then they placed some orders, and we started a wonderful relationship with them,” Ohland added.
“We give back as much as we possibly can, because people were so kind to us.”
Like that, one of hockey’s most tasteful traditions was born.
Ohland, her husband Erik, and daughter Brittany are on the concourse about once a month — usually on weekends and close to Christmas — handing out the Islanders-themed goodies for free to passersby, ushers, parking lot workers, announcer Brendan Burke and pregame host Shannon Hogan.
She spends up to five hours preparing and baking ahead of the cookie handouts, she said. She estimates she’s spent from $35,000 to $45,000 for ingredients, stickers, packaging and boxes over three seasons.
She claims the team has gone 5-2 each season on cookie days, bringing Cookie Lady’s overall record to a championship level 15-6.
“We’ve probably done 40,000 cookies in two years,” said Ohland, who now runs For The Love of Frosting as a side baking business in part to cope with Jason’s loss.
After he died, “a beautiful bouquet of flowers arrived” at the Ohland home from Ledecky and the organization as well.
“They treat people like people,” she said. “We’re not just filling their pockets. We’re not just filling their seats. We’re important to them, and they’re important to us.”
The Islanders have also ordered the sweets for their suites and events, such as the team’s recent hall of fame induction for Pat LaFontaine and a Kan Jam cancer fundraiser hosted by Captain Anders Lee.
Ohland and her family print tons of different Isles-themed frosting designs, including QR codes on the cookies, to customize for each occasion.
She recently whipped up a batch with an interview between Matthew Schaefer and The Post, and Brittany even once brought a “sugar-free” sign in Russian to let goalie Ilya Sorokin know he could enjoy the treats and stay lean.
“Let me tell you, he gets so excited to get those cookies,” Ohland said.
Really good skates
Doing right by her son wasn’t the first over-the-top gesture the Islanders paid it forward to Ohland.
She wrote a letter to the team during the 1980s dynasty, explaining that her older sister, Karen, was undergoing heart surgery.
“[Former Islander] John Tonelli, so graciously said, ‘Hey, I’ll visit her,’” Ohland said of the legend whose pass to Bobby Nystrom won the Isles’ first Stanley Cup.
She said the forward still remembers Karen and “he’s had our cookies at some of the events since.”
The family has reached minor celebrity status among fans ever since they scored big and were in an MSG Network promo about their goodwill.
“People get so excited when they get a cookie,” said Ohland, who wears a custom “Cookie Lady” jersey to games.
“I would say most of them just know me from the commercial and don’t know much about [our history].”
Ohland builds bridges with opposing fans by bringing a tasty peace offering to away games she occasionally attends with her family. She will also feed visiting fans coming into New York.
Calgary Flames fans doused tension at first bite when the Canadian team was in town earlier in March.
But her product is a hit much closer to home, especially among those who have similar medical hardships.
“There are some other people, some other Islander fans that we’ve gifted cookies to that are struggling with cancer,” she said.
“Everybody has a story, and whoever you can bring joy to when they might not have so much joy around them, that speaks volumes.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
