Normally people don't like having to repeat themselves over and over, but in a recent phone conversation between North Vancouver's Colton Sissons and his father Doug, the message was one that neither of them would ever get tired of hearing.
It was Sunday night, Jan. 26, and Colton was in Wisconsin where he'd just finished a game with the American Hockey League's Milwaukee Admirals. After the game the team's general manager pulled aside Colton, just 20 years old and in his first season as a professional hockey player, and told him some good news.
As soon as he left the meeting Colton went to his phone.
"I called my parents at home, they were just sitting down for dinner with my sister," says Colton as he relives the moment. He's not sure whether it was the joyful screaming in the background from his sister Danielle and mother Debbie, but for some reason the message just wasn't sinking in for his father Doug.
Dad, I'm going to the NHL.
"I had to repeat myself to my dad five or six times until he fully believed me," says Colton. "It was a pretty special moment."
Doug pins it on the background noise. "There was a lot of screaming going on."
Two days later the North Vancouver Minor and North Shore Winter Club alumni was on the ice making his NHL debut with the Nashville Predators in Winnipeg against the Jets. Colton admits that he was a bundle of nerves in the hours leading up to the game.
"The first shift my head was just spinning on my shoulders," he says with a laugh. "After I got my first shift out of the way I settled down and got a little bit more comfortable and could play my game a little bit better.
He even hit the scoreboard, drawing an assist on a second period goal scored by Nick Spaling. Nashville ended up with a 4-3 win and Colton finished with one assist and a +1 rating in nearly 11 minutes of ice time.
Doug, Debbie and Danielle were there to see it all, specials guests of the team.
"I don't know if I could do it justice," Doug says about describing what it was like to see his son hit the ice in an NHL game for the first time. "It was something that a hockey player dreams about his whole life, and to have it unfold in front of you is really quite surreal."
Doug has been there watching Colton since that dream first started to take shape - a junior player himself back in the day, Doug was Colton's first coach and followed him through several levels of hockey.
"We were on a rink together for many years when I was a young guy," says Colton, adding that it wasn't always smooth sailing out on the ice. "We battled quite a bit when he was my coach, which is usually the way it goes with a son and father.. .. He wasn't afraid to ride me hard. That's what fathers do best."
But looking back now Colton says he got his passion and love of the game from Doug.
"I got it all from him," he says. "I look back at great memories of him and I bonding over the game."
As a teenager Colton earned a spot on the B.C. Major Midget League powerhouse Vancouver Northwest Giants, a North Shore and Burnaby-based team that went on to win provincials and make it to the Western championships. The team was loaded, featuring teammates such as current Vancouver Giants captain Dalton Thrower. New York Islanders elite prospect Griffin Reinhart also made a late-season appearance. Colton played all year on a line with a guy from Burnaby named Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.
"He gave me a lot of freebies on the backdoor, just to bang home some goals into the empty net," says Colton. "I think I had 30 goals that year and he probably assisted at least 20 of them.. .. That definitely helped me out and got me a look from some junior teams after that season, no doubt about that."
Sissons ended up on the WHL's Kelowna Rockets and quickly made a name for himself, growing into a team leader under the guidance of head coach Ryan Huska.
"They turned me into a different player when I got there. I would not be here without them," he says. "They took a chance on me, putting me as captain as an 18-year-old, which was unbelievable. It was a challenge for sure and I had some ups and downs as a younger captain but they stuck by my side."
The Predators picked Colton in the second round, 50th overall, in the 2012 NHL entry draft and then sent him to Milwaukee when he turned pro at the start of this season. It didn't take long for Colton to show he belonged with the big boys - as a rookie he took the team lead in Milwaukee with 16 goals in 42 games, adding 12 assists for a total of 28 points. His play earned him a berth in the AHL all-star game but, before that took place, the Predators came calling.
Colton followed up his NHL debut with two more games in the show, playing 5:36 in a 3-2 overtime win over New Jersey at home Jan. 31 and then going +1 in eight minutes of play the next night in a 4-3 shootout loss in St. Louis.
And then, just like that, the stint was over. With injured Predators returning to the lineup and the long Olympic break approaching, Nashville opted to send Colton back down last Sunday. When the North Shore News contacted him the following day, he was still buzzing from the ride.
"It was a whirlwind of a week up there," he says. "I think I got more comfortable and more settled in. Just around the guys and the atmosphere, more so than anything. I felt like I played my best game against St. Louis. It was awesome to get a feel up there for a week."
Sissons wasn't too bummed about being sent down either, instead focusing on the positives he'll take back with him to Milwaukee.
"That's the name of the game," he says about the fleeting nature of NHL life for a young player trying to break in. He doesn't know when he'll be called back up but says he'll do everything he can to earn it.
"I'll just continue to work down here and wait for my next chance," he says. "I'm just going to focus on staying positive and maintaining a good attitude. I think that's a huge part of my success so far this season and one of the huge reasons why I got called up. I'm not going to change too much, just keep working and hopefully produce for my team in Milwaukee."
And it looks like he will get to suit up in that AHL all-star game, scheduled for Feb. 12 in St. John's, N.L. It's not the NHL, but it's still a pretty nice achievement for a rookie.
"I was really, really surprised when I heard the news," he says of making the all-star team. "It's going to be a fun week, it'll be a great experience that I can hold onto for a long time."
