Jets' dads/mentors trip a time for fun and giving back

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When it comes to the father/mentor trip, it never gets old for Dylan DeMelo and his dad, Tony.

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This year’s trip has been a long time coming after COVID robbed the Winnipeg Jets of hosting one over the past years.

“He’s been itching to go,” DeMelo said earlier this week.

For the DeMelo duo, it’s the fifth time they’ve embarked on such a journey, with this year’s stops including DeMelo’s former team in San Jose, and subsequent visits to Anaheim and Arizona, where some golfing under the desert Sun is expected to take place on Saturday.

“The parents play a huge role in our success, and without their sacrifice of time, money and energy we’re not here today,” DeMelo said. “To be able to give them a glimpse of what they’ve given us is a lot of fun.”

If DeMelo’s dad was itching to get on the team’s charter on Wednesday, Cole Perfetti’s father, Angelo, was simply trying to stay upright.

“When I told him he nearly passed out he was so excited,” Perfetti said.

While the DeMelos have five of these trips under their respective belts, this is a first for the Perfettis.

“Something that he always thought was a cool thing to do,” the 22-year-old said. “He’s going to be able to see behind the scenes of how we travel, how we live as NHL players.

“I’m just excited to share this moment with him. He’s going to be smiling ear-to-ear the whole time. It’s going to be a special moment for the both of us.”

Like DeMelo, Nate Schmidt and his father, Tom, have taken a couple of these trips before.

Schmidt’s first came in Washington, where he began his career, and he did another when he was a member of the misfits with the Vegas Golden Knights.

“You feel like you’re a kid again,” Schmidt said, his face lighting up. “A weekend away, mom’s at home, the boys are out to play. Maybe get an extra dessert while mom’s not watching.

“It’s cool… so important, too. I have such a fun time. My dad is a little kid when he sees inside the world. He watches every game, as most dads do.”

Part of seeing inside the world isn’t just the team meals, which had 30 extra members on Wednesday night, or the other extracurriculars that players get up to in towns across North America.

They really get to peer into the inner workings, taking part in team meetings and other aspects of being an everyday NHLer.

“He’s always like, ‘I can’t believe you guys go through all of that stuff,'” Schmidt said.

There’s plenty of time to reconnect and reminisce as well.

“I played minor hockey against Mark (Scheifele) growing up,” DeMelo said. “He’s from Kitchener, I’m from London.

“So I’m sure our dads will have a lot of chats about minor hockey days. And even (Alex) Iafallo, he’s my age and I played against him in tournaments, like Silver Stick and spring hockey, things like that. So we’ll have something to talk about.”

DeMelo and Brenden Dillon played on the same team in San Jose, and shared a dads/mentors trip there, as well.

“Our dads will be able to reconnect, which is kind of funny,” DeMelo said. “We got to do the dad’s trip before on different teams and now they get to be reunited.”

Ed Dillon, like most fathers, Brenden said, likes to live vicariously through him.

“When you come home in the summertime or at Christmas, he’s like, ‘Hey, what’s going on with this or how is that?'” Brenden said.

“To be able to share a trip like this, it’s pretty special. There wasn’t a whole lot of Edward Dillon time to be able to do stuff on his own when I was a kid. He was always taking me or my sister to our sporting events. So for us to be able to give back, and for the organizations to do this, to recognize the impact (the dads and mentors) have on us, they are still waiting up in whatever time zones to watch our games. A lot of fun.”

All of these dads and mentors, 30 at the final tally, might have a few suggestions for Jets head coach Rick Bowness.

“I think we have 30 coaches coming with us, so there will be a lot of Xs and Os,” Neal Pionk, whose father Scott is on the trip, said. “They should put up a whiteboard in the suite and see which dad grabs it first. Drawing up plays. It will be fun.”

Bowness doesn’t seem to mind.

He said he loves that these trips have become a staple in the NHL over the past several years.

“This is a family commitment, to get the players here,” Bowness said. “They all should feel part of it.”

Bowness’s late father, Bob, a former semi-pro player, was his mentor.

“He’s the one that gave me the passion for the game,” Bowness, who played parts of nine pro seasons, said. “It always goes back to him.”

sbilleck@postmedia.com

X: @scottbilleck