Josh Morrissey is well aware that his dad, Tom, gets a lot of credit for his hockey career.
Before Tom died, Morrissey called his dad after every game to talk shop. Josh attended (and volunteered at) his dad’s “D-Rules” hockey camp for defencemen. Their close relationship was well documented, particularly after Tom’s brain cancer.
Morrissey’s mom, Bev Jarvis, hasn’t always gotten the acclaim she deserves.
“I think there’s the misconception that the dad is the hockey driver, the coach, etc.,” Morrissey told The Athletic before the Winnipeg Jets’ mom’s trip, which began on Sunday. “In my experience, they each had their own attributes to bring and both were important in my development as a young man and as an athlete.”
Josh and his little brother, Jake, both played hockey throughout their youth. There were times when Tom was with Jake in Vancouver and Bev was on the road with Josh in Saskatoon. Minor hockey championships were often won or lost with Bev at Josh’s side. Long prairie highways could mean long, impactful conversations. WHL championships, NHL success, and a hockey career under the microscope made Morrissey’s mom a vital sounding board.
“As my career evolved, whenever I’d pick up the phone and talk to her, it was never about hockey first. It was just about how I was doing first,” Morrissey said. “She’s very aware of every game, every minute. I don’t think she misses a shift. … But her tone or her entry into the conversation is never different, whether I caused the game-winning goal or scored the game-winning goal. She’s just speaking to me with the same enthusiasm and compassion. That sense of even keel and unwavering support is something I’ve always felt.”
Winnipeg plays San Jose on Tuesday and Anaheim on Wednesday, giving the Jets’ moms an itinerary that involves Napa Valley wine tastings and two beatable opponents. The former should be a treat; Morrissey and his mom still reminisce about the last mom’s trip back in 2020. It means a lot to Morrissey to share the perks of NHL life with his mom.
“It’s cool to be able to show people in your life what it’s like to play in the NHL and go on the road — from how we travel, how we’re treated. … You know, we call it the ‘Never Hungry League, the NHL.’ There’s food everywhere. We’re pretty spoiled and it’s just cool to be able to share that experience with them, because otherwise, they wouldn’t know. And I don’t think the stories or descriptions do it justice.”
The ‘beatable opponents bit’ is worth mentioning because the Jets didn’t win a single game on their last mom’s trip.
“We’re coming on the plane afterwards and it was … very supportive, let’s say,” Morrissey said, laughing. “Whereas the dads were very hockey results-based. They’re still supportive but in a different way.”
Tom and Bev separated almost 15 years before Tom died. That didn’t stop Jarvis from emerging as an enormous source of support when Tom had cancer. Morrissey is grateful to his mom for so many things — from the phone calls to the long drives to her emotional intelligence — but one thing comes most dearly to mind.
“There was no greater period of time than when my dad got sick,” Morrissey said. “Her support for my brother and I during that time — and for my dad. They were married for a long time but had been divorced and not together for over 10 years, almost 15 years at that point in time. Even through that period, her support for him in ways she could help was instrumental … I wouldn’t have been able to get through it without her.”
Morrissey recognizes that no divorce is easy and every situation is different. He is grateful to both of his parents for how they showed up for their two boys.
“Whatever may have been going on between them — I mean, you get divorced, it’s not an easy time — they always maintained support for us. They always acted the way that they need to, I suppose, for my brother and I. Then throughout the years, time goes on. I wouldn’t say they were close by any means but there was probably a mutual respect and even, at times, both of them acknowledged and recognized that ‘it didn’t work out for us but we’ll always share the bond of you kids.’”
Bev Jarvis hugs her boys, Josh and Jake Morrissey. (Courtesy Josh Morrissey)
The irony of Hellebuyck’s big save on Laine
Connor Hellebuyck’s dad Chuck vividly remembers the day Connor told him not to sign him up for goalie camp.
“I want to say maybe he was 8 or 10 years old. There were goalie camps going on,” Chuck said. “We didn’t have a ton of money but I asked Connor if he wanted us to sign him up for this goalie camp. He says, ‘Dad, no. That’s a waste of money. All they’re going to do is try to change my game. They don’t understand the way I play. Don’t do it.’”
Hockey fans familiar with the adult Hellebuyck, a two-time Vezina Trophy winner who doubled down on his own process in the face of playoff adversity, might not be surprised. Hellebuyck may be one of one as an NHL goaltender, but he had to come from somewhere.
So father and son save their money and skip camp. Months go by. Later that season, a different goaltending camp was using the ice before one of Hellebuyck’s practices. Chuck watched one day as the instructor — a goaltender who’d achieved a level of success, as he recalls — answered a slew of parents’ questions about how their kids were playing.
“I’m just standing there, waiting to watch Connor practice, just listening,” Chuck said. “The coach finally ended up getting frustrated. He looks at all the parents and he goes, ‘Do you want to see how your kid should be playing goalie? Watch that kid out there. Pretty much everything that kid is doing is what your kid should be doing if they want to be successful.’ And he walked away.”
It was an early version of an experience Chuck has seen with his son several times — first in Michigan; then in Odessa, Texas; at UMass-Lowell in the NCAA; and now in the NHL. Connor makes bold claims and then proves those claims true.
“It was shocking to me. He was a kid. What could he know?” Chuck said. “But then there was this adult who had played some goalie and ran this camp. It completely changed how I looked at Connor’s approach to his game.”
This brings us to Patrik Laine and the circus save Hellebuyck made on Saturday night in Winnipeg. Remember that the outcome of Hellebuyck’s self-assured childhood approach to his game is a style he proudly calls “big and boring.” Hellebuyck’s focus is on reading the play, taking the most efficient body position and using his biomechanical expertise to stop pucks without highlight-reel acrobatics.
It’s a style so effective that Hellebuyck has followed up his second Vezina Trophy with an even better save percentage and goals-saved-above-expected rate than last year.
But this … this is anything but boring:
“It’s one of those things where I’ll say, ‘if I screw up, I can make a good save,’” Hellebuyck said on Saturday. “When they pass it down (to Laine), I had lost it for a second … By the time I picked it up, it was on its way to the net, so the only thing I could do was just flail and try and make something cool — and thank God I did.”
It’s amazing in one way and ironic in another. Hellebuyck made a ridiculous save and ended up on a highlight reel as the result of a mistake. One of the reasons he doesn’t end up on highlight reels more often is his commitment to making saves through angles and hockey IQ instead of depending on athleticism. It’s not like the style is costing Hellebuyck saves, wins or Vezina Trophies, but it did keep him off of Martin Brodeur, Mike Vernon and Henrik Lundqvist’s “best active goalies” lists last season.
Best and Worst Goaltenders – December 15 pic.twitter.com/fBtcD7r7rs
— JFresh (@JFreshHockey) December 15, 2024
It’s having an amusing effect at the minor-league level, too. I recently spoke with an agent — not Hellebuyck’s — who works with youth goaltenders. Whenever he’s talking to kids and teenagers, the agent likes to ask which goalie the kids try to emulate. A startling minority of young goalies choose Hellebuyck — even in the United States. It’s as if they don’t understand Hellebuyck’s advantages, gained through positioning and obsessive understanding of each play, or as if they do understand but don’t think they can replicate it.
Sometimes I facetiously wonder if Hellebuyck’s reputation would be better served if he lost track of the play more often. Meanwhile, Hellebuyck’s dad still gets a kick out of his son’s unique approach to the game.
“I watched so many of those types of saves when he was growing up,” Chuck shared in response to a clip I posted of Connor’s save. “It led to him developing ‘big and boring.’ Less exciting but far more efficient.”
Whatever keeps the Jets in the win column, I guess.
By the way: If Hellebuyck wins his second straight Vezina, he’ll be the first repeat winner since Brodeur did it in 2007 and 2008.
(Photo of Josh Morrissey: Michael Reaves / Getty Images)
