Fantilli's birthday debut is one he won't soon forget

From start to finish, it’s fair to say Adam Fantilli will remember his 19th birthday.

It started with the present to last a lifetime, a good luck text from the greatest player in NHL history, Wayne Gretzky.

“Probably the coolest thing that's ever happened to me,” Fantilli said.

It also included an emotional video from his closest friends, family and former teammates, and ended with the 30 Fantilli family members in attendance in Nationwide Arena serenading him with a rendition of “Happy Birthday.”

And in between, of course, Fantilli made his highly anticipated NHL debut with the Blue Jackets. It didn’t end quite the way he wanted, with the Blue Jackets dropping a 4-2 decision to Philadelphia, but it took just three shifts for the rookie center to earn his first NHL point when he assisted on Jake Bean’s goal.

“It was really cool,” he said of making his debut. “Every kid dreams about stepping out there on that ice. Not the result we wanted – a couple things we have to clean up. I know we have more. But overall, it was really cool to get out there.”

It will be the first of many NHL games for Fantilli, who was chosen third overall in the NHL draft this summer out of the University of Michigan. He certainly didn’t look out of place, finishing with two shots on goal among his five shot attempts, two blocked shots, a 50-percent success rate on faceoffs and one hit in 13:40 of action. According to Natural Stat Trick, the Blue Jackets had five of the eight shots on goal when Fantilli was on the ice at 5-on-5 and 72.3 percent of the expected goals.

“Excellent,” head coach Pascal Vincent said when asked of his impressions of Fantilli’s play. “I think this guy is a driver. I think he’s a guy that will compete every shift. Everybody makes mistakes, but he never makes a mistake of not working. I’m really impressed with him.”

The debut in many ways is just the beginning, but at the same time it’s the culmination of a dream Fantilli has had since he was little. In that birthday video, his parents reminisced about how headstrong Fantilli was as a kid to make it to the NHL at age 18 – something he would have accomplished had the CBJ opener been a day earlier – and how hard he worked to make that journey come to fruition.

He’s developed a reputation for a tremendous work ethic and focus to get to where he wants to go, and there was little doubt from the time the Blue Jackets drafted him that he’d been in the NHL this season. For his parents Guiliano and Julia, Adam’s success is a weird combination of exactly where he said he’d be something that’s still hard to wrap their minds around.

“It’s a dream come true,” Guiliano said. “We’ve been thinking about it for years, and it seems so far away. When you’re here, it’s so surreal. It really is. To see people wearing your kid’s jersey is mind-blowing. We’re so grateful.”

Added Julia: “I’ve walked up to everyone wearing a Fantilli jersey and said, ‘Oh, I’m his mom!’ I can’t believe it. I’m so in awe.”

Fantilli has shown plenty of appreciation for those who helped him get to the world’s toughest league, including a notable fashion choice at the NHL draft. Fantilli wore a suit on draft night in Nashville that had more than 100 names of those who made a major impact on his journey stitched into the back of the vest of the three-piece suit.

A good percentage of those friends and family members were able to be in attendance Tuesday night – “We travel in packs in the Fantilli household,” he joked – and the young standout was happy they were there. As that vest said, “it takes a village” to produce an NHL player, and he remained appreciative of those who are close to him ahead of his debut.

"It's definitely fun to be able to look back and be grateful for everybody that's helped me get here and everybody that's made sacrifices and believed in me,” he said pregame. “It was the same thing with the draft. I was able to take all those people up on stage with me wearing that vest, and I'm gonna have the same people in mind going out into my first game here.”

When it was all said and done, the game was the first of many for Fantilli at the highest level. He’ll always be able to remember the experience, from his rookie lap to his first point, and the first step on what should be a long journey in the sport he loves.

"First lap was pretty cool,” Fantilli said. “Right when the puck dropped, I settled in and was able to relax there and just play hockey. I was happy to be able to do that. A lot of the external stuff going on, but I was able to just happy to play hockey and get the first one in the books.”