DENVER — The dads are getting to see their boys at work on the Edmonton Oilers’ father-son trip here and to Arizona for Friday’s game — the first time the dads or mums have tagged along since 2011.
Cam Talbot’s dad Mark, an industrial mechanic for 25 years who moved into union work, is on his third father/son trip, the first two when his boy was tending net for the New York Rangers and now to Denver and Arizona with the Edmonton Oilers.
It never gets old. Dads have some laughs. Get to know the other dads.
This time the 15 dads or family guests who gathered Monday in Edmonton to see the Oilers spank the Blackhawks, then get on a charter Monday here, are rooming together on the road.
But on Mark Talbot’s first trip to Nashville and Tampa, Mark bunked in with Cam in Music City.
“In Nashville, my dad came back about four in the morning after seeing Kid Rock and Travis Tritt at a bar he was at … it wasn’t too quiet,” laughed the former Rangers’ backup goalie, who was starting against the Predators.
“Great town. Had a great time,” said Mark Talbot, who said they kept the dads busy and game their boys some space on the Nashville game day with a trip to the Johnny Cash and antique car museums.
“I think it was my sixth career start. Luckily I got a shutout the next night. If I’d lost, I might have been a little more upset but it worked out,” chuckled the Oilers goalie.
“This is great for the dads to gain new friendships. Back in college (U of Alabama-Huntsville) the dads were around all the time. They’d co-ordinate (for trips). Here in the pros, you don’t get that,” said the Edmonton netminder.
The dads or guests watching the Oilers players for games in Denver and Arizona includes Brian McDavid, Mark Talbot, Richard Nurse, former NHLer Brian Benning, and Doug Hendricks, as well as the dads of Mark Letestu, Jordan Eberle, Patrick Maroon, Kris Russell, Drake Caggiula, Eric Gryba andRyan Nugent-Hopkins. Zack Kassian’s brother is here, a Lucic family member.
Doug Hendricks, who’s a U.S. Marine, has been to four father/son outings with Matt from Matt’s days in Colorado and Nashville and Washington. “Pretty cool to have them with us. They’ve sacrificed so much and believed in us,” said Matt, who had a nasty gash on his lip after a high-stick wasn’t called against Chicago. Price of doing business for him.
“They get to have all the fun … it’s a work trip for us,” laughed Darnell Nurse, whose former CFL receiver dad Richard is part of the 15-man contingent following the Oilers players.
“You can have a lot of fun, too, when you win games. Not so much fun when you lose and you get on the plane after a game and your dad is looking at you thinking, ‘What the hell were you doing all night?’ ” kidded Oiler coach Todd McLellan, who is on his seventh father/ or mother/son trip with his coaching in Detroit and San Jose, and values every last one of them.
STILL SITTIN’
Coaches don’t like to sit veterans for games on end, but Benoit Pouliot, Mark Letestu and Eric Gryba all sat for the third straight with the Oilers riding 5-2 5-0 wins over Dallas and Chicago.
“We debated deeply today on what to do with our lineup. When you score 10 goals and don’t give up anything five on five, you have to give that group another opportunity to play,” said McLellan.
Pouliot wasn’t scoring so he was taken out to check his inventory of what he was doing right and wrong while Gryba became the seventh D-man because Kris Russell (lower-body) returned after missing seven games. Letestu, their best penalty-killer and only right-shot centreman, is a different story. He’s a victim of the youth movement to get Drake Caggiula some work on the fourth line.
“Different ingredient. Mark was told he wasn’t coming out because he wasn’t doing things he should,” said McLellan.“
COP KIDS
New Avs’ coach Jared Bednar comes from Saskatchewan (Yorkton) just like McLellan (Melville). They don’t know each other that well but their dads were both in the RCMP, so there’s a connection there.
“We know each other in passing but I know my father’s talked to Todd’s dad on numerous occasions. They’ve crossed paths more than we have but I’ve followed Todd since he played in the Western League,” said Bednar.
Bednar, who coached in the ECHL (Carolina Stingrays, winning a title with a young James Reimer in net) and in the AHL (winning a championship with Lake Erie, Columbus’s farm), parachuted in when Patrick Roy surprisingly resigned in thee summer. Roy is spending his time golfing in Florida now.
STYLE SUITS
Avs’ forward Nate MacKinnon has played for MacLellan twice, at the World Cup and the world championship in Prague.
“He’s almost a player’s coach but he’s also very intense. He’s not a dictator or anything, he’s very good with the players, very nice man, treated us with respect. I really enjoyed him,” said MacKinnon, who badly wanted to take McLellan’s Young Guns dashing World Cup team to the NHL.
“We outshot (defensive-conscious) Sweden 45-25. I think we could play that style in the NHL. We’d go 82-0.”