Amy calls out her kids, too. She sends Seth and Caleb blunt, in-the-moment text messages critiquing their play, even though they might be in the middle of a game at the time. She said it's just part of being a hockey mom.
"I think we're tough, super-cool moms. We just get it," said Amy, who works for a hotel developer. "The boys get hit and it's, like, 'Get up.' The same thing that we said at pee wee and bantam and midget, we're saying in the NHL. When your son makes a mistake, you just put your head down and you're like, 'Are you kidding me? What were you thinking?'"
Seth said his mother will send him messages urging him to watch a highlight involving his 21-year-old brother showing a goal for or a goal against.
"Sometimes she doesn't quite know if it's his fault or not in some situations," Seth said, "so I'm kind of there to be that guy to tell her, 'No, that's not him, it's a team thing'."
Seth said he understands and appreciates his mother's enthusiasm.
"She's watched me throughout the years and how much work I put in every summer, every single season to work for one goal, and that's winning the Stanley Cup," said the 24-year-old, who is third on Columbus with eight points (two goals, six assists) in the playoffs. "She's happy for me, but she's happy to be part of it."
To do that, Amy employs the skills of a travel agent, matching playoff schedules with airline flight times, coordinating with her sons and consulting with her ex-husband, former NBA player Popeye Jones.
Popeye, an assistant with the Indiana Pacers, also wants to attend as many games as possible after the Pacers were eliminated by the Boston Celtics in the first round of the NBA playoffs.
"We're divorced now, but I think we still understand parenting and we've always been on the same page of supporting our kids and letting them grow as young adults in whatever they want to do, and we try to be there for them," said the 48-year-old, who attended Game 1 of the second round at Boston on April 25. "You're always a hockey parent, and that's never going to change."