GENE'S BLOG: That's For You, Mom

It was a busy weekend in the National Hockey League. From coast to coast and north to south in the USA along with Canada. Not to mention games being played in Sweden as part of the Global Series. From the time on Friday night action started to roll until the final horn went Sunday evening, here's what 48 hours of hockey looked like:

• 18 games played
• 116 goals scored
• 19 power-play goals
• 3 shorthanded goals
• 94 even-strength goals
• 13 first goals of the season

However, only one player scored the first goal of his NHL career and it was Oilers forward James Hamblin on Saturday afternoon in Tampa. It happened at the 11:29 mark of the first period against Jonas Johansson. It was unassisted and gave Edmonton a 2-0 lead. Hamblin became the 32nd player this season to score their first NHL goal, but the first to celebrate in such an unforgettable way.

The goal itself was a beauty. Wrist shot. Stick side. Up high with no chance for the Lightning goaltender. The young player's reaction was on another level. He put his glove to his lips, then to his heart and with a tug of the jersey pointed skyward and mouthed the words, "That's for you, Mom".

If you weren't watching closely enough you might have missed it, but Sportsnet play-by-play man Jack Michaels didn't. He knew right away what was said and what it meant. Our crew quickly realized the magnitude of the moment and replays verified the lip reading was perfectly picked up. It's what was said by James, and it was said to his mom Gina.

I have seen countless first NHL goals and the celebrations have varied. Some have included a point to the sky to signify the loss of a family member. Maybe a mom or a dad or a grandparent, possibly a sibling or a spouse. However, I cannot ever remember words being spoken at the same time. Hamblin, in one stitch of time, was able to get it all done so perfectly.

He waited until game 16 of his career to score his first goal, but he had waited years for this moment. He delivered a message to his mom and to the world. A lady who was a wife to Tim and also gave birth to James' sister Paulina. If she couldn't be there in person, she should have at least been watching on TV. Instead, from her seat in the sky she watched her little boy achieve a lifelong goal.

Life is never easy and it's sometimes downright hard and challenging. The Hamblins found that out when the rock of the family was diagnosed with cancer. Gina was young, active, healthy and not expecting to hear a life-altering diagnosis. Words that leave you stunned and shaken. Your choices are to give up or fight. Gina chose the latter.

She did what she could and so did the family until the disease was too much. On September 6, 2017, Gina passed. She was 52. Far too young and far too much to live for at that age. Wife, mother of two, successful in her career. Why her? There is no answer that could satisfy the question.

James was 18. Slowly, the Hamblins started to pick up the pieces, but there is never enough time to pick them all up. One thing James had was his family and his hockey family. The entire Medicine Hat Tigers team – his WHL squad at the time – came to the funeral.

He had ice, sticks, pucks, practices and games to lose himself... if just for a period or two or three. Never to forget his mom but to think about another love in his life. It's what made Saturday so special.

His family gathered back in Edmonton watching the game with Paulina and Tim leading the cheering section. While Gina was watching from the best seat in the sky. To see her son's goal and her son's love.

The words came out of his mouth, but they came straight from his heart: "That's for you, Mom."