Philip Maroon has joined his son for every dads trip since Pat became a regular in the NHL with Anaheim in 2013-14. Last season with the Blues, the dads trip took the Maroons to Tampa ironically, where they got to hang out for nearly a whole week, exploring the city and enjoy the weather during the early-February respite from the brutal Midwest winters.
"We had a really good time last year because we had like five days, six days," Pat Maroon said. "We really took the time and really explored it and enjoyed it. This year's obviously different going to St. Louis, but I'm sure we'll have a really good time."
Maroon remembers the numerous car rides during his youth hockey days with himself and his dad, just the two of them on the road bonding on trips throughout the Midwest.
"I mean the things I remember most is just me and my dad in the car as a kid, just him driving me to tournaments, going to Chicago, going to Notre Dame, Columbus, Minnesota, Canada, just us two, just driving and playing his rock music and listening to 590 The Fan all the way up, listening to sports radio all the way up," the younger Maroon said. "Those are the moments I'll always remember, just having that time."
The Lightning have been hosting a dads trip every season since 2014-15, head coach Jon Cooper's second full season with the team, according to Lightning senior director of team services Ryan Belec. This trip will be the sixth under Cooper.
"When we started, we said it wasn't going to be an annual thing," said Belec, who coordinates the dads trip in conjunction with his typical duties scheduling the team's travel for road trips. "But it was so popular and the dads and team have so much fun that here we are six years later and we've done one every year."
Thirty fathers of players, management, coaches and staff are on this year's dads trip. And not all are dads. Some are brothers. Some are father-in-laws.