Calgary dad cheers on high-flying son as Jets advance in Stanley Cup playoffs

Much of Canada was cheering for the Winnipeg Jets as they downed the Nashville Predators 5-1 in Game 7 of their second-round Stanley Cup playoff series on Thursday night, but none more so than Tom Morrissey.

His son, Josh Morrissey, 23, plays defence for the Jets the only Canadian team remaining in this year'splayoff race.

"It was a little tense, certainly early on," he told the Calgary Eyeopener on Friday morning.

"When it was 2-1, we were thinking one goal either way could make a huge difference, but they started to pull away later on in the game and we relaxed a little bit."

• Stanley Cup Playoffs: Western Conference final preview

The father-son pair talk every day, something Tom says they've done since Josh left home to play major junior hockey at the age of 16.

Tom coached Josh when he was a youngster and the two still work together in the off-season running a hockey camp that draws around 450 players but, he tries to be more dad than trainer when they chat.

"You don't get into any of the strategies or systems or anything, just talking about, 'did you have your tempo up,' or 'make sure you play with that edge you have to play with because you're a smaller guy,' or 'what do you think about this,'" he said. "A lot of times it's just asking him questions, but not actually directly coaching him to shoot the puck more or that sort of thing."

Josh began skating in Springbank as a child, playing organized hockey there until reaching the peewee level, when he joined the Calgary Royals organizations. He then began playing in the WHL with the Prince Albert Raiders and was named captain before he was traded to the Kelowna Rockets, where he played with his brother Jake who was a goalie making it to the 2015 Memorial Cup final.

Josh has also represented Canada several times on the international stage, winning the world junior championships in 2015.

Josh was drafted by the Jets in the first round, 13th overall in the 2013 NHL entry draft.

"It's really tough to make the National Hockey League, as everyone knows, one-in-9,800 kids or something are fortunate enough to make it, and there's a lot of luck that goes in with everything else that's involved."

Thursday's win moved the Jets on to the Western Conference final against the Vegas Golden Knights, which begins Saturday night in Winnipeg. Game 2 goes Monday, also in Winnipeg.

"I think we thought Nashville was the hurdle that was going to be the most difficult to get over and they managed to do that, however all these teams are good and they're all striving to win a Stanley Cup, which is what every kid wants when they play in their driveway," said Tom. "Obviously at the end of the day it's not going to be easy."

Game Wrap: Stastny, Jets advance to Western Conference final

6 years ago

Duration 1:51

Winnipeg beats Nashville 5-1 in Game 7, Paul Stastny 2 goals and 1 assist.

The Jets have the right recipe needed to win, Sportsnethockey analystEric Francis told CBC Calgary News at 6.

"When you talk about whether they can win, they do have all the ingredients that you need," he said. "You've got a rockstar goaltenderwho was one of the best in the league this year, you've got incredible fans, that's a big part of it too, that whiteout is very impressive to watch on TV, but to experience it in that small building, it's very moving for the players on both teams.

"Then on the ice, they're a big team, they're a fast team, they can beat you in various different ways, as they did against Nashville.They won some games with speed, they won some games with brawn, they've got that delicious mix of the two."