One proud papa

After today’s skate, I chatted for a few minutes with Jim Greene, Matt’s father, who made the trip out west from Grand Ledge, Mich. Mr. Greene talked about the fathers’ trip…

JIM GREENE: “It’s just always good to be able to spend time with my son. We don’t see him that often. We watch TV. We purchased the NHL Center Ice package so we can watch the games, but nothing beats being right here with him. A lot of times when we see him on the road, if he comes to Detroit or Chicago and we get to see him, you can have these little pieces of conversations, but you can’t really relax and let the conversations flow. It’s nicer to spend some uninterrupted time with him and get to chat a little bit. It’s good to get caught up.”

I asked Mr. Greene if watching his son on the ice brought back memories of watching him play as a youngster…

JIM GREENE: “It really does. You know, it’s amazing. No matter what level these young men get to, you still think of them as being kids. They’re still playing a game that they love, and it gives me a lot of satisfaction to see him doing what he wants to do, and getting as much satisfaction out of it as he does. That’s always good. You worry, just like any parent. If you’re the parent of a Mite or a Pee-Wee player, you worry about them getting hurt or whatever. It’s still the same. I think I could even speak for most parents of professional players. You still worry about your kid, and you want him to stay healthy, you want him to feel good about himself, and that’s really the bottom line.”