CANADIENS’ PETRY IS KEEPING BUSY ON AND OFF THE ICE
Jeff Petry’s wife posted an adorable video on Twitter last Wednesday night of their fouryear-old son, Boyd, watching the Canadiens on TV against the Florida Panthers in Bathurst, N.B.
Boyd is shown standing in the family living room singing O Canada when, all of a sudden, he screams: “Daddy! Daddy! I saw him!” as Petry is shown standing on the ice.
So sweet.
Petry smiled after practice Sunday in Brossard when the video was brought up.
“It’s nice that he’s kind of remembering because he came up to me the other day and he’s like: ‘I’m excited to see warmups again,’” Petry said.
During games at the Bell Centre, Boyd likes to watch from the front row as his Daddy and the Canadiens players skate around during the pre-game warm-up.
“Obviously, he hasn’t seen them since last year, so for that to click with him is cool because I don’t have any memories really of being around the game when my dad was playing,” Petry said. “So, hopefully those memories stick with him.”
Petry’s father, Dan, was a major-league pitcher for 13 seasons and helped the Detroit Tigers win the 1984 World Series. But Dan retired after the 1991 season, before Jeff turned four.
Petry’s house on the South Shore is a busy place these days after Julie gave birth to their third son last month with Bowen Douglas joining big brothers Boyd and Barrett, who is two.
“Wild house,” Petry said with a smile. “It’s good … the baby is easy right now. It’s the other two that I’m the referee when I go home.”
On the ice, Petry is adjusting to new defence partner Ben Chiarot during training camp. The Canadiens signed the 6-foot-3, 225-pound Chiarot to a threeyear, US$10.5-million contract this summer as a free agent after he spent the last five seasons with the Winnipeg Jets. He should be a good fit with the offensive-minded Petry, who is coming off his most productive NHL season, setting career highs in goals (13), assists (33) and points (46).
“He’s a guy that plays a physical game, which I like to have as a D partner,” Petry said. “We’ve talked and he said: ‘Join the play and do your thing and know that I’ll be back there.’ He’s shown that he can skate the puck up and join the attack as well.
“He’s a good guy,” Petry added about Chiarot. “He lives real close to me, so we see a lot of each other. But I know a couple of guys who played with him in Winnipeg and we had some contact before he got here. It’s good working things out on the ice and getting more comfortable with each other’s games.”
Petry and his wife are also doing their best to make things more comfortable for Chiarot, his wife, Jacqueline, and their three-month-old daughter Emmerson. Other teammates with children, including captain Shea Weber, Carey Price and
Paul Byron, also live nearby.
“I remember when I came here it was Pricey that was kind of our influence,” said Petry, who was acquired from the Edmonton Oilers on March 2, 2015, in exchange for a second-round pick (Jonas Siegenthaler) and a fourth-round pick (Caleb Jones) at that year’s NHL Draft. “Now, I think everybody in our neighbourhood has kids. So it’s nice to have somebody that’s been here to give recommendations on child care and this and that. It’s easy for the guys to be comfortable coming in and playing with guys or knowing guys that played with them. But for the family it’s a little bit different, so you got to make sure you’re comfortable in the living situation.”
Petry became comfortable quickly in Montreal, which is a big reason he didn’t even test the free agent market in the summer of 2015 before signing a six-year, US$33-million contract with the Canadiens.
“I loved it from I guess the minute I got here,” Petry said.
“It was a good team, my first (NHL) playoff experience. Guys like Gally (Brendan Gallagher), Pricey, those guys ... having a good group. And then, obviously, changes come. Overall, it’s been a good group. I have no regrets at all.”
When asked what advice he’d give Chiarot about playing in Montreal’s bright hockey spotlight, Petry said: “Everyone talks about the media and everything. But you just got to play. Block out as much stuff and everything that you hear. You’ve played the game long enough. It’s just a matter of going out there and playing because there’s going to be people who love your game and there’s going to be people who hate your game. You don’t want to get caught up in trying to please everybody. Just play.”
The Canadiens take a perfect 4-0 pre-season record into Monday’s game at the Bell Centre against the Toronto Maple Leafs (7 p.m., TSN2, TSN4, RDS, TSN 690 Radio).
That’s something else for little Boyd Petry to cheer about. scowan@postmedia.com Twitter.com/StuCowan1