It was night of firsts for 20 year-old Drake Batherson of New Minas, N.S.
On Thursday, he played his first NHL game, scored his first goal -- the game winner -- and he was named the game’s first star.
And all of it happened in front of his family and friends.
“You couldn't draw it up any better for a night to happen like this -- to score a goal in my first NHL game,” Batherson said. “I've dreamed about it since I was a kid. My whole family is here. I have 15 people here tonight to see it and all my buddies are watching back home.”
Also glued to the screen was Batherson's billet family from his days with the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles.
Six-year-old Neico Ryan was beaming for her “big brother.”
“I was happy,” Neico Ryan said. “I was proud of him and I threw my hands up in the air.”
Not bad for a guy who was playing junior A hockey back home in the Annapolis Valley three year ago.
Not many would have tagged him as an NHL prospect.
“You know how hard he works,” said his former billet Kyle Ryan.“We still talk to him quite a bit. And to just see that moment that he put all that work in for. You're overcome with emotion.”
Nova Scotia has already produced a number of NHL superstars. Names like Sidney Crosby, Brad Marchand, and Nathan Mackinnon. Could Drake Batherson soon be added to that list?
“Now that he's got a taste of this, it's nowhere near the end for him,” Ryan said. “He's so competitive. Whether he's playing a game of Trouble with Neico, he had to win.”
His winning attitude that has translated into success on the ice.
“It was a special night,” Batherson said. “One I'll never forget for sure. I just seen a lane honestly and figured I would give it a rip. I kind of blacked out. I don't even remember my celebration. It was great.”
It’s a night he will never forget, thanks to the puck that will go on the mantle to mark a dream come true.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Kyle Moore.
