Teacher by day, hockey mom by night

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But for Tricia, the story does not start in a rink or a playoff series. It starts in a moment so small it almost disappears into memory, except that it did not.

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He was a baby.

Not a prospect, not a defenceman, not an NHL player. Just an infant in her arms when the Stanley Cup came through Melville, Saskatchewan. A stop, a photo, a moment that at the time meant nothing more than tradition and luck and a quick snapshot with hockey’s most famous trophy.

“I sat him right at the top of the Cup,” she said. “He was just a baby. We have the photo framed at home.”

At the time, it was a family story. Something to laugh about later. A novelty.

Now it feels different.

Now that same child is a grown professional athlete, standing two wins away from having his name engraved on that same trophy.

“That is the part that is so surreal,” she said. “You do not think about it then. You just think it is a cute moment. And now… now it is real.”

In between those two moments, baby in the Cup and the Cup Final, there were thousands of ordinary ones that built an extraordinary path. Minor hockey mornings. Long bus rides. Junior hockey development. The years in Kelowna that helped shape not just a player but a professional.

Tricia still talks about those Kelowna Rockets years with gratitude. Not because they were glamorous, but because they were foundational. The structure, the coaching, the belief, it all mattered.

“He learned how to be a pro there,” she said. “That is where it started to feel possible.”

She also points to Kelowna as more than just a development stop. It has become his off-season home in many ways.

“He trains there, he spends his summers there, that is where a lot of his work happens.”

And those years with the Rockets still echo in how he approaches the game.

“Playing for the Rockets for four years really helped shape him,” she said. “It taught him structure, consistency, and how to be a pro before he was even a pro.”

Now possibility has turned into proximity.

But while the hockey world focuses on matchups, depth charts, and lineup decisions, Tricia’s reality still looks like lesson plans and literacy goals. She is a teacher who has had to learn how to carry two worlds at once, the everyday world of school and the high-stakes world of Stanley Cup hockey.

And the transition between those worlds is not always seamless.

“You are teaching in the morning,” she said, “and then you are checking the schedule, checking flights, thinking about games at night. It is just… surreal is the best word for it.”

Her students have followed the journey closely. They know the team. They know the player. They know when games are on, and they know when their teacher might be a little distracted by something happening thousands of kilometres away.

They have even turned it into classroom excitement. Reading challenges and monthly rewards now come with an extra layer of anticipation, hockey talk, special moments, and the kind of energy only kids can bring when their teacher’s family is suddenly part of a Stanley Cup story.

But even they understand that what is unfolding now is different.

This is the Stanley Cup Final.

This is the moment every kid who ever picked up a stick imagines.

And for Tricia, it carries a weight that is both emotional and deeply personal, not just because her son is playing, but because of the full-circle nature of it all.

From baby in the Cup to two wins away from lifting it.

Still, she is careful not to get ahead of herself. Hockey has a way of demanding focus on the next shift, not the next celebration.

“He is just focused on the team,” she said. “That is who he is. He wants to be in the lineup, of course, but he understands it is about the group.”

There is one reality that adds another layer to this moment. Kaedan has not been in the lineup during the Final and has been a healthy scratch, staying ready and staying part of the group as the series unfolds. Even so, Tricia’s pride does not change.

“He is the youngest on the team,” she said. “He is staying ready, he is part of it, and when he has played, he has done well. He just wants to help the team however he can.”

And now she is right there in the middle of it.

She is in Las Vegas for the series, taking it all in as the stakes rise with every game. She was in the building for Game 3, an overtime thriller that had the arena shaking, and she will be back again for Game 4, loud and proud in the stands, right where she wants to be.

And when she talks about that building, there is no hesitation.

“It is just unbelievable in there,” she said. “The energy, the production, the crowd, everything is just next level. It is such a great place to watch hockey.”

For a teacher who spends her mornings in a Grade 3 classroom in Saskatchewan, it is a surreal contrast, chalkboards and reading groups one week, Stanley Cup pressure and playoff noise the next.