100 Games Later, It Still Feels Surreal

While John Marino was growing up playing hockey, his mom Jen's biggest hope was that he would eventually be able to get a great education through the sport.

And when John and his twin brother Paul III both had the opportunity to attend Harvard, that meant everything to her. So while John was debating whether he should remain there for his senior year or turn professional with the Penguins, Jen was a bit apprehensive, and understandably so.
"I remember my biggest worry was, but what about graduation?" she said. "How is he going to get his degree? I remember I just kept questioning my husband, are you sure things could work out? He's putting a lot at stake to leave."
But John was adamant that it was the right decision, and it was his to make, so his parents were supportive. And when Jen watched him make his NHL debut a couple months later on Oct. 8, 2019, alongside the likes of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang, it was hard to comprehend what she was seeing.
"You're like, I just can't believe my son is on the ice with these guys," Jen said. "It's so surreal. And then when he started playing regularly, it was just more than I could have ever hoped for him, honestly. He didn't have an easy road getting here."
From that perspective, with John appearing in his 100th career game in Saturday's 4-2 win over the New Jersey Devils at PPG Paints Arena, that feeling really hasn't changed.
"I know that there were many times during his hockey career that he felt like he could do it, but he wasn't sure," Jen said. "And it was a struggle for him to think about, what would my life look like if hockey wasn't part of it? So from that perspective, there are days where I can't even think about it. I just think like, oh my God, I cannot believe he's living this way.
"To think my son is that successful and that happy…I mean honestly, at the end of the day for me, that's what it's about. And this was him being able to achieve the biggest dream he's ever had his whole life. It's amazing."
What started as a way to cure Paul III's bowed legs after a doctor suggested ice skating became the boys' biggest passion. It got to the point that when the twins were 5, Jen told her husband that they needed to give them a break from hockey. So they went on a family vacation to Disney World, staying at a resort and visiting the just-opened Animal Kingdom the second day.
"We went on the safari, and when we were done, I said, 'Wasn't that so much fun?' And John goes, 'Can we go home? I just want to go skate,'" Jen recalled with a laugh. "So we spent most of the time in the pool at the hotel because they had a great slide there, and I kept having to hear John say, 'I wish I could just go skate. This is not fun.'"
When they returned home to North Easton, Mass., the twins were able to play on the same teams throughout elementary and middle school, and Jen remembers John always being so supportive of his brother. Since he wasn't quite as fast, there were times when John would get down to one end of the ice and then find a way to hold onto the puck until Paul was able to join him.
"He would maybe make a move or go around the net and wait for him, then by the time he did that, Paul would be in front of the net and John would pass it to him," Jen said. "He would do that a lot for him in elementary school, just so that Paul could score goals, too."
As the twins got older, John moved onto more competitive teams, playing for the South Shore Kings with Kevin Stevens' son Luke and other talented players in the area. But he was never on national development teams or anything like that.
"John took a very different path than a lot of the kids that he grew up with, because he grew later," Jen said. "He didn't get hit a growth spurt until high school. And it wasn't till he went out to the USHL and then over to Harvard that people started saying, well, maybe he does have some talent that could take him further."
And while John did get drafted, he got drafted late - in the sixth round, 154th overall - by Edmonton, who then traded him to Pittsburgh in the summer of 2019, which is when he made that fateful choice to leave school. Marino went on to surprise everyone - including his teammates - by not only making the opening-night roster out of training camp, but quickly developing into a key member of the blue line.
"Johnny came in last year as a young guy that nobody expected to either make our lineup or play that much hockey for us," Letang said. "He showed a lot of great things and had an unbelievable season for a rookie."
That earned Marino a six-year contract with an average annual value of $4.4 million heading into this season, and his family couldn't have been happier for the kid who would do anything for anyone, especially his twin. The two of them actually have matching tattoos on their ribcage of the Bible verse which reads, "A friend loves at all times and a brother is born for a time of adversity," with their birthday underneath it in Roman numerals.
And Jen was especially thrilled, because John did end up earning that degree, taking classes this past summer and fall to graduate from Harvard in December with a major in psychology and minor in economics.
So these days, Jen doesn't have much reason to worry about John. Occasionally, she will check in with him just to ask if everything is going well and if he's feeling okay. But she's grateful for the way the organization and his teammates take care of him.
"I never expected that these players who are so talented would also be so down to earth," Jen said. "They've been so good to him that there hasn't been there hasn't been a need for me to worry about that piece of it."
On the ice, Marino has faced a bigger challenge this season because, as Letang put it, players know him and how good he is. He also had to step up through an influx of injuries to the blue line earlier in the season. But Letang has been impressed with how he's handled it.
"I think Johnny's been answering the bell really well," he said. "He's just going to keep getting better, he's going to keep working on his game."
And hopefully play a few hundred more.
"It's definitely something pretty special," Marino said of the milestone. "Something you're definitely looking forward to and hopefully you have many more to come. But just kind of look at it as a stepping stone and keep learning from the process."