In a suite at the American Airlines Center on Tuesday night, Sandy Pavelski showed off the new boots she had bought just for the Dallas Stars Moms & Mentors Trip. They’re comfortable and perfect to accomplish the sole goal she has for her time in Nashville: dancing. Surrounded by other hockey moms, and amidst the team’s 4-2 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes, the good vibes were palpable.
You may be surprised that a veteran’s mom was nearly jumping out of her seat with excitement about going on the road with the team. You see, Sandy has never been on a trip like this before in her son’s previous 17 seasons in the league.
“First one for me. Joe’s been in the league a long time. When he was with the San Jose Sharks, they never did one. It was always fathers, so his dad went on a lot of them,” Sandy said. “So I was like, here’s my chance! I’m going to enjoy every bit of it.”
It’s only in recent years that NHL teams began broadening this tradition. Now, you see teams rotate moms and dads trips, and some even get really outside the box and go for siblings (which, if we’re going to get more shots of sisters shotgunning beers in suites, then more siblings trips please.)
“A dad’s trip has been kind of a historical thing for a while in the league. It’s great that they’ve added the mom’s trips. I think anybody that grows up in a hockey family knows that the moms do more than the dads do. It’s nice to recognize them,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “They never get recognized enough for what they do.”
While a lot of hockey dads do the work of mentoring and coaching their players through the formative years, the moms are often the “unheralded” behind-the-scenes heroes. They’re the ones that did the laundry and the meal prepping and managing schedules of multiple kids’ activities to ensure they got where they needed to be on time and a slew of other tasks that just generally make households run.
“I was always behind the scenes with Joe. Dad did a lot for him. We had four in hockey, so we would all do whatever we can to get them to the games,” Sandy said. “So for [the Stars] to do this, it’s like, yes! My turn. Joe’s getting near the end of his career, so I’m glad they did it now versus two years from now or something.”
In the grind of the season, and with families spread out across the world and other priorities when they do get to come to visit, getting quality time with your parents in-season as a NHLer is usually limited. Trips like this give a chance for the player to share their day-to-day experience with the people that mean the most to them. The moms and mentors on the trip will travel on the same schedule as the team, join them for meals and meetings and morning skate and the late arrivals back home.
But they’ll also add in some fun activities for the down times in the schedule: a tour of Ryman Auditorium, a stop in at Tootsie’s (a Nashville staple). There’s even customized Taylor Swift Eras Tour-style t-shirts complete with a collage of each person’s NHLer as a little boy.
“We all smile and appreciate what we’ve done to help our children get there. We all know what we’ve sacrificed as parents, as families, as siblings for that one person to get to where they are today, and we’re very proud,” Jackie Seguin said. “For an organization to offer something like this, it’s amazing,” Jackie Seguin said. “That they let us experience what our boys experience that are men now. You don’t appreciate this, the game, and everything they have to do to go through to get that. It’s unbelievable.”