New York Rangers Honor Hamden's Doug Caliendo (VIDEO)

Hamden’s Doug Caliendo was honored by the New York Rangers on Sunday night for his inspiring game-winning goal just hours after his father Lou Caliendo passed away following a long, hard-fought battle with cancer.

Doug Caliendo, a senior co-captain on the Notre Dame-West Haven hockey team, and his Green Knight teammates were special guests of the Rangers at Madison Square Garden for NYR Youth Hockey Night.

Caliendo was introduced to the Madison Square Garden crowd and honored with a video tribute of his game-winning overtime goal against Northwest Catholic on Feb. 3, just hours after Lou Caliendo died at the age of 54.

The Rangers tweeted the video tribute that was played at the Garden on Sunday night along with the following message:

#NYR were proud to welcome Doug Caliendo @TheGarden tonight. Doug’s resilience and GWG was an inspiration to us all.

On the ice, the Rangers defeated the Detroit Red Wings 1-0 on an overtime goal by Kevin Klein, who later took a photo with Doug in the locker room.

Doug Caliendo recently wrote a thank you note on behalf of his family for all of the attention his inspirational game-winning goal has received. He also writes about his emotions and decision to play against Northwest Catholic on that day.

Read the letter at the Notre Dame school website here.

Image via @NYRangers on Twitter