TAMPA - Pat Marun knows what impact a simple “good morning” veteran can have on a young player.
When Maroon came with the ducks 2013-14 in his first real NHL season, greetings from veterans such as Ryan Getzlaff, Teemu Selanne, Saku Koivu and Francois Beauchemin gave him the confidence to start the day on the rink.
As he grew up, he discovered that the chemistry in the locker room is critical, but also the creation of connections away from the rink, especially when it comes to connecting with the families of the players. That’s what has helped drive Lightning over the past few seasons, and it resonates more and more as the team chases its third consecutive Stanley Cup.
“Family is important,” said Marun, 34, in his 11th NHL season. “This is your family for what, seven months a year?” This is who you are with every day. Players, women, their children, get closer to them. The children know you by name, and I firmly believe that we are just trying as hard as we can to build that chemistry away from the rink, because when you come to the rink, you will feel much better. ”
Lightning’s culture of “one big happy family” began with key players such as Stephen Stamkos, Victor Hedman and Andrew Palace who came as young players and have since married and had children.
“It was really amazing to see everyone become men in some way, really,” Stamkos said. “We were all young people who came, and many of us have families and children (now), and we still come to the rink every day and have fun with each other. It’s a pretty cool dynamic, and we’re very happy to be with these guys for as long as we have. “
There are at least 20 children among the Lightning families, most of them under 6 years old.
“When you meet other guys and their families, it’s a lot of kids and they have fun together,” Hedman said. “It simply came to our notice then. Somehow you create that family bond outside of hockey.
“I think (it’s) huge, especially for us with our families and our parents. “We are far away,” said the native of Sweden, “so you are also trying to create that community within the team.”
The situation is the same for those who did not grow up in the Lightning organization.
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/6UDIHWJR5ZCTFMM7KXR2NXZQII.jpeg "Lightning defender Ryan McDonagh sits on the podium with his five-year-old daughter Fallan during a recent game.")
Corey Perry, who joined Lightning out of season, enjoys going to group gatherings and family salons after the game and knows that other children know him just like Griffin Perry’s father.
“It was a lot of fun,” said Perry, 37, in his 17th season. “You can see the connection they built here. When you are close and on the ice, the way you play for each other, for each other, for the guy next to you, whatever it is, it definitely helps because there is that connection, there is that brotherhood, and in that room you can see that there is that brotherhood . ”
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/LVHRYZ6CIZFDBIHFJ7ZCREHVME.JPG "Follow all the actions on and off the ice")
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It is common for players to organize holiday gatherings for families and players who do not have families locally.
This season, the family of Zac Bogosian hosted Thanksgiving, and the family of Ryan McDonagh hosted Easter, with Anthony Sirelli as the Easter Bunny.
Often during matches, women and girls will sit together in the stands. After the last trumpet, the children will gather on a plastic ice cover in front of the family salon and alternately shoot one-time players while waiting for their fathers to come out of the locker room.
“It’s about building that culture and family atmosphere and knowing that you can send a message to someone and that they will be in your house in two minutes if someone needs anything,” Marun said.
McDonagh said: “We all sacrifice ourselves to be away from family and leave a lot of time to play this game we love. And so, when you go that route and try to achieve the ultimate goal here, winning the Stanley Cup, you can somehow rely on each other in that aspect, in terms of knowing what the guys are going through, leaving even their families occasionally and just trying to focus on this two-month period in which you can do something really special.
Contact Mari Faiello at [email protected]. Follow @faiello_mari.
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