[MissTeeks]

http://www.calgaryherald.com/sports/...613/story.html

There’s nothing remotely capable of replacing a mom’s peace of mind.

“It’s amazing,” Jane Gaudreau is saying between first and second periods Thursday night, “how many people have come up to us since we’ve been here and said ‘We really like your son. We’re really glad he’s here.’ Which, as parents, make you feel so much better because we’re so far away and we’re not going to get to many games.

“Knowing people do like him makes you feel more ... reassured. To know he’s where people are genuinely interested in him and hoping he’ll succeed. It’s not as if ‘Oh, he’s too small’ or anything like that.

“They seem to really have taken to him. So it’s a lot easier on us.

“I asked him who he hung around with and he said ‘They’re all my friends. I like everybody.’ They’ve really taken him under their wing.

“It’s been real cool,” says Guy. “We didn’t bring anything fancy, but everybody’s made us feel so welcome.”

As first-timers here

“We said ‘John, where should we go?’,” says his mom. And he said: ‘There’s this big building in the middle of Calgary’ ” – the Calgary Tower, undoubtedly – “ ‘go up to the top and you’ll see everything.’ And I said ‘OK, but where are the mountains?’ And he goes: ‘Oh, I don’t really know. I just play hockey.’

“If he hadn’t put the numbers up he did (last season), if he’d scored 30-35 points, I probably would’ve pressed for him to go back to (Boston College) for his senior year,” says his dad. “But after what he did, and now after what we’ve seen here, this made sense.”

The decision to go pro was left to the person it would most affect.

After Boston College lost the last game of the Frozen Four, on the 30-minute drive home from Philadelphia, his mom asked her son how he envisioned his immediate future.

“And he told me ‘I’ll tell you when we get to the driveway.’ We get to the driveway and I asked him ‘What did you decide?’ He’s such a good kid. He asked Guy ‘Can I talk to mom by myself?’ And he goes ‘I really want to go but I want to make sure you’re all right. I don’t want you to be sad.’ How many 20-year-olds would think of that?

“I said ‘John, I want to see you. But I think you’re ready. If you leave today, a year from now or five years from now we’re still going to be sad because you’re moving. But Calgary’s a great fit for you. They like you there. I think you should go.’ ”

On the strength of their first visit here, Johnny Hockey’s folks are convinced it was the right choice.

“I grew up watching the Canadiens,” says Guy. “My dream was always to play in the NHL. Like any young kid who plays hockey. So that’s always been his dream, too.

“He was always small, so I was always trying to prepare him, you know, in case. But now that he’s here he’s so into it.

“Living his dream.

“As a parent, that’s so wonderful see"