Saturday night didn’t go how Vancouver Canucks forward Jake DeBrusk wanted, but he found a way to leave the rink with a smile on his face.
DeBrusk, who signed with the Canucks over the summer after spending the first seven seasons of his NHL career with the Boston Bruins, was the feature guest on last night’s After Hours program.
He joined the program’s usual host Scott Oake and also his father Louie, who was doing colour on the Hockey Night in Canada broadcast and is a regular member of the Oilers Sportsnet team.
During that segment, DeBrusk shared the story behind last season’s iconic “golden ticket” moment between him and his dad. During a Bruins game in Edmonton, Louie surprised DeBrusk with an old “golden ticket” that he had made when he was younger. The ticket promised a goal or an assist or else DeBrusk would have to do 30 push-ups.
As luck would have it, DeBrusk scored that game and avoided the push-ups.
“I completely forgot about them,” DeBrusk said of the golden tickets. “I remember doing them when I was younger, I think you can tell by the drawing that it was definitely me when I was younger.
“It was one of the best things that we’ve had interactions with. Caught me completely off guard… That was a Christmas present too. What a brutal Christmas present.”
The bond between Jake and his dad is unquestionable and, watching the segment, you can get a sense of just how much being in this position together means for the two. They also were able to reminisce on some memories together as well.
One such story centred on a fight that Louie had during his NHL career against the formidable Zdeno Chara, who DeBrusk would end up being on the same team with later on. The new Canucks forward said he used to try to pick Chara’s brain about the fight.
“I’m so happy there is video of this,” laughed DeBrusk. “That was a cool situation actually for me, cause I think it was our first dad’s trip and we’re just sitting on the bus and [Chara’s] there and I asked him who won the fight and he just kinda sat back waiting to see [what Louie would say].
“There was no video at the time, the video was not out, so I couldn’t find it… [Chara] always calls me Louie, to this day he still calls me Lou.”
Things haven’t exactly gotten off to a great start for DeBrusk in Vancouver. He has three goals and eight points through his first 13 games with the Canucks. It does, however, seem like he’s starting to find his stride with points in each of his last four games.
It’s good to know that when he does go through rough stretches, he’ll have his dad on his side every time.