Zach L’Heureux’s father, Robert, was a decent hockey player himself when the younger of the two were growing up, enough so that Robert’s friends would tell Zach as much.
But when the now Predators rookie winger reached the age of 16, those same buddies began to realize Robert may have been surpassed.
“I remember growing up…I wanted to be better than him,” Zach said earlier this week with a smile.
There’s no debating who the top player among the L’Heureux family is these days, and Robert has already witnessed his son on a number of occasions in his first NHL season, including in Nashville and back home in Montreal.
But Robert, and so many other proud fathers, have never seen the game quite like what they’re about to experience over the next three days.
As the Preds jetted off to Buffalo to begin a back-to-back set against the Sabres on Friday night and the Penguins on Saturday, just about every player and staff member had their ‘old man’ alongside for Nashville’s Fathers Trip, an almost-annual affair that has become one of the more anticipated events on the NHL calendar.
An idea that was drawn up decades ago in the Predators front office between then coach - and current General Manager - Barry Trotz and former GM David Poile, bringing the dads along the NHL circuit for a few days is now commonplace around the League.
The trips have evolved to include mothers, siblings, mentors and the like across teams as the years have gone by, but the fathers trip is the original, the ultimate bonding weekend between hockey dads and boys turned NHLers living the dream.
For Zach, the chance to now “give back” to his father for all of those early morning practices, long drives and sacrifices made simply so his son could play the game is almost too much to put into words - but the rookie still tried.