The season opener between the Carolina Hurricanes and Montreal Canadiens will bring a big moment for brothers Haydn and Cale Fleury. They will be on the same ice for the first time ever in the NHL. The brothers, who are both defesenmen, have been waiting for this moment since they started to seriously consider playing professional hockey.
Haydn is a 7th overall pick of the Hurricanes in 2014. The 23-year-old has played 87 games in the NHL, but was still fighting for a spot on the Canes roster this year, which he won out of training camp. Cale, 20, was drafted in the the 3rd round (87th overall) by the Habs in 2017. Thursday night's game will mark his first taste of NHL regular season action. Haydn was excited when he learned Cale had made the team and would be playing against him in the first game of the year.
"Thank you for telling me! I can not wait to see him on Thursday," he told La Presse.
As you can imagine, the bothers' parents will be in attendance at the game in Raleigh, as well as an aunt and uncle, and Cale's girlfriend.
"We can't wait to see them both on the ice," said John Fleury, the father. "We will mainly watch them during warm-up. The first time they competed in the WHL, Haydn watched Cale all the way through the warm-up. He did not stop smiling, he was in awe. He is very proud of his little brother. He is very protective. I'm sure he warned his teammates that his little brother is very sturdy."
As for who he'll be rooting for, John says he's hoping the game goes to a shootout and that both of his sons play well.
"I will applaud the winning team at the end. But if it was in Montreal, I wouldn't dare cheer for Carolina," said John, with a smile
The father also talked about the contrasting styles of the two brothers during the interview.
"Haydn is very happy. He plays hockey because it makes him happy. He always said to me: 'love hockey and hockey will love you.' For Cale, hockey is serious. All business since he was young."
Source: La Presse
