“He’s Always A Guy I Can Lean On” | Tage Thompson To Play Against Dad’s Team In Anaheim | Sabres
Actually talking to your father he said it was really great to see you and get together last night what was that like for you just to you know have a chat with him after you know five months you have a new baby and all that yeah it’s
Great um you know prior to the season usually don’t get to see him too much um during the year um usually the only time I get to see him is you know a couple months out of the summer so um it’s really nice to see him during the season
Catch up and uh go for dinner and obviously you’ll see him tonight so it’ll be fun did you have this in your mind circled when he got the job that well we’re going to play the Ducks twice and these are the dates I mean what was it like the thought process there yeah
Of course I think it’s a special moment um it’s something that I think our whole family is looking forward to uh my brother’s gotten the opportunity to to play against him when my dad was coaching in Bridgeport so um obviously that was a very special moment for those
Two guys and um now now I get to experience that too so it’s going to be a fun night what kind of message did he give you just about you know pushing forward and just push pushing through some of the adversity yeah he’s always a guy lean on I think um you know
Throughout my my entire life and my hockey career he’s he’s always been the one I go to um you know he’s he’s been through it himself he played and now he coaches and um you I’m very blessed to to have someone like him in my life and
To have him as a father and be able to you know share those experiences and um for him to give me guidance and um you know be a coach and a father is something that obviously not a lot of people get get to have and um it’s something that I definitely don’t take
For granted so um you know all the all the things that he’s taught me over the course of my my life and um is uh is you know a lot of the reason why I’m here today so this night’s going to be a real special one did you talk to Ryan about
This how bizarre this is two guys have their father on the other bench in the same game yeah pretty crazy um I don’t know how many times that’s happened before or if it if it has happened so um very unique and uh a cool situation for
Everyone you and your daddy both got NHL schedules it’s a time difference how often are you able to you know communicate I yeah it’s tough with him being out here on the West Coast um you know it’s it’s usually later at night for us back home in in Buffalo and
Obviously it’s a little earlier here for them but it’s we try to talk as much as we can and um I think for him it’s it’s a lot easier for him to catch our games a little little more difficult for me to catch theirs but um you I think we’re
We’re a very tight-knit family and um always talking and keep it in touch so it’s um that’s something that’s very important to to all of us P you look at this game you guys have really tightened up the defensive situation this month you’re one of the top teams in the
League defensively and you guys are struggling to score how do you just break through and get more emotion in the offensive game yeah well I think that’s what you need as as your foundation right like you’re not going to be able to score every night some
Nights you’re going to be cold or you’re going to face a hot goal tender and um you need something to fall back on that’s got to be defense and um you know if we can hold teams to you know one two goals that gives us a really good chance
To to win games and um you know obviously I think we’ve been creating good good chances and good looks and um I think goals I’m a big believer they come in waves that you get streaky and um as a team right now we just got to
Find a way to get you know streaky uh I think you get one or two and um you know you start to feel good about yourself so as a team we just got to find find one to you know um get greasy get to the net
Um keep it simple I think maybe a little less looking for that perfect shot and just kind of um try simplify and I think you you get one of those ones then then they all seem to start falling for you kage your dad shared a story with me
That when you were younger you were almost a goalie you tried you tried out that one time do you remember that experience um not not too too much um I just remember stories of him telling me I really wanted to be goalie um had all the the goalie gear and um obviously I
Think tried to steer me away from that as much as possible and um I think one of the ways was to to have guys that he was playing with at the time come over and and shoot on me in the driveway and try to ruin my confidence and I think it
Worked pretty pretty well and um obviously I took a different route and um think it’s been working
Buffalo Sabres forward Tage Thompson spoke with the media after morning skate on January 23, 2024. He talked about playing against his dad’s team, the Anaheim Ducks.
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