[getbak]

Reunited, and it feels so good...

Jon Gillies ‏@JGillies36

here's to a lot more of these in the future! congrats big man #GoFlames🔥🔥

http://flames.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=876335

Gillies remains in close contact with his old teammates but has a special bond with one in particular.

He and Mark Jankowski have gone through similar journeys to professional hockey and have become close friends through their shared experiences.

Both were drafted by the Flames in 2012.

Both came out of smaller leagues than the traditional CHL and European paths, with Gillies playing his draft-eligible year with Indiana Ice in the United States Hockey League and Jankowski being plucked out of Stanstead College, a prep school in Quebec.

Both started their collegiate careers as true freshmen at Providence in 2012-13.

Both won a national championship -- the first in Friars' program history -- in 2015 when they edged Boston University 4-3 in the Frozen Four Final last April.

And both are now members of the Flames organization with Jankowski inking a entry-level deal with the club on Mar. 30, Gillies singing his deal last spring.

"I’m really happy for him because we were really close at school and we’ve gotten really close through development camps and stuff like that," Gillies stated. "We’ve been going on this ride together, being drafted in the same year and stuff like that. He’s a great person and has a great family, so I couldn’t be happier for them."