The Sod Father: Henry Staal having time of his life watching NHL sons

NASHVILLE – Henry Staal, sod farmer extraordinaire, is lucky to have multiple sons in the NHL right now, if only from a technological standpoint.

Imagine if kids Eric (Carolina), Jordan (Carolina, formerly of Pittsburgh) and Marc (Rangers) were all drafted in the 90s. There would probably be some sort of giant satellite and multiple VHS tapes rolling at the same time in the family’s living room in Thunder Bay, Ontario.

Fortunately for Henry, he uses the wonder of a DVR. For some, it's a luxury. For Henry, it’s a necessity.

“I don’t know how he would have done it. It would have been tricky. Even now it’s difficult, but especially when I was in Pittsburgh. Now it’s a little bit easier, but it’s amazing how much hockey he watches when all of us are going at once,” Jordan said.

Sport parents often get a bad rap for crazy antics and bloated expectations for their children. And then there’s Henry, whose hands-off approach has led to some of the most prolific hockey nurturing in the game’s history.

Just think, Eric, Jordan and Marc all stay relatively healthy (and free of another lockout) there’s a good possibility all three will play 1,000 games in their NHL careers. Over 3,000 games from the same gene pool.

“I just enjoy it,” the happy-go-lucky Henry said taking a break from frolicking with the Hurricanes fathers at Bridgestone Arena, on the team’s yearly dad’s trip. “We enjoy watching the games. I try not to get too wrapped up in giving advice, and get down and see them whenever we could.”

Ask Jordan or Eric about their favorite memory of their father, and both give a sense of selflessness and humor.

Eric’s top moment occurred when he was playing in a tournament as a 15-year-old. He kept breaking his wooden Bauer sticks over and over again – as he kept scoring goals. Meanwhile, his dad kept buying the same type of stick to ensure his son would stay hot. In the middle of a game, Henry would toss the new sticks over the boards. Eric would catch them and fire another one into the net.

This ended up being Eric’s big moment as a youth player – a tournament when he arrived as a prospect and helped his draft into Peterborough of the Ontario Hockey League.

“He was probably like ‘I have to go back to the store, I have to buy another $40 stick and my kid is going to break it in 20 minutes,’” Eric said.

For Jordan it was his dad trying to show some hockey skills on a frozen pond, and completely wiping out.

“He was starting to feel pretty good and bringing out his old university ways and started skating fast and ended up blowing a wheel and went into the net,” Jordan said. “He had a huge elbow for like three months.”

Added Eric, “He was the furthest thing from crazy hockey dad as you could come, which I loved about him. All the other parents would be sitting together and yelling and being the way hockey parents could be and he was in the corner and never showing any emotion and I respected that as a kid and I still do now.”

It’s this kind of genuine nature that has led to the Staals turning into a humble NHL family – one that takes a vested interest in the other’s success, even when all three were on different teams.

According to Henry, since all three lived out in the country (four if you also count youngest brother Jared, who plays for the Charlotte Checkers), they had to play and hang out together. This strengthened their bonds.

“They were forced to get along,” he said. “That just carried through to their pro careers. They’re competitive and in golf or hockey they want to beat each other, but in the end blood is thicker than water and they really root for their brothers.”

And if one is in peril, they also show solidarity. When Marc suffered a debilitating eye injury in 2013 Eric and Jordan each started to wear visors.

“It was more out of respect for Marc. They were like ‘this just doesn’t look right,’” Henry said. “It’s a good thing, but it would look awful for them to not put on shields after what happened to Marc.”

Right now, going to watch games and see family is easier for Henry than the past. With Jordan and Eric on the Hurricanes, he can take a flight from Thunder Bay to Toronto then catch a direct to Raleigh. He doesn’t have to plan trips to Pittsburgh (Jordan’s former team), Raleigh and New York.

Also, a trip to Carolina enables him to see Eric and Jordan’s kids, and gives the parents much-needed break and babysitting help.

“We take advantage when they come down,” Eric said. “It’s not just nice for our wives, but nice for our kids.”

While players’ minds then to wander toward the end of their careers and what they will do after retirement, for the Staals, these questions more revolve around their dad.

What’s he going to do when there’s no son to watch play hockey? It’s all he has known since Eric was born 30 years ago.

“The odd night I’ll sit down and I’ll start watching a random game,” he chuckles. “I’ll continue to watch a lot of hockey. Maybe I’ll be going to the rinks with the grandkids all over again. That’ll bring me back.”

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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper

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