Hockey Night in quispamsis
Hockey National TV crew features hometown of Flyers' defenceman
QUISPAMSIS - Family, friends and Hockey Night in Canada: It's hard to imagine a more commonplace combination at playoff time.
But while it's nothing strange to gather around the house or a local watering hole to watch the game, it's a little different when the national institution brings its cameras to you.
That's exactly what the CBC will do Tuesday when it visits Quispamsis to meet the family and community that raised New Brunswick's only active National Hockey League player, Randy Jones of the Philadelphia Flyers.
The Jones family isn't sure exactly what it is about Randy's upbringing that got him to the NHL.
Tim Jones, one of his three older brothers, says the only thing he can think of is that he knocked a pair of Randy's teeth out with a mini-stick during a heated childhood game of basement knee-hockey.
"I take credit for toughening him up," joked Tim, who's organizing a party at Vito's in Quispamsis for Game 3 of the Eastern Conference final Tuesday.
"I don't know if there's a secret to it," said Randy's father, Butch. "Most of it comes from my wife."
Crystal Jones (nee Olive) did play in Canadian championships in three different sports, including fast-pitch at the 1969 Canada Games, but she doesn't take much credit either.
"Well, they probably get their determination (from me), I know that," she said. "Whenever they joined anything, whether it was sports, Cubs or Beavers, you went and didn't miss it. "¦"‰I don't care whether it was six in the morning, you've got to go."
Crystal said she was a fiery competitor - "I slid in with my cleats in your face if it meant I was going to get there-" but Randy is more laid back. She said she never thought her son would make the NHL because he was never mean enough.
"That's why he never got drafted, they wanted big, heavy, mean players back then," she recalled. But the six-foot-two, 200-pound defenceman caught on with the organization as a free agent. He made cameos with the NHL team in 2003-04 and 2005-06, and won a Calder Cup with the Philadelphia Phantoms farm team in the American Hockey League. He's tallied 53 points in 137 regular-season NHL games the past two seasons, and had one assist in 12 playoff games heading into Sunday night.
Crystal, who talks to Randy on the phone before every game, actually won't be on hand when CBC comes to visit Tuesday. She planned to fly out this morning to watch Games 3 and 4 in person.
Tim Jones said the camera crew will attend the party at Vito's, where more than 100 of Randy's closest supporters will be on hand. They'll also visit the family house in Quispamsis, and film the various signs around town in support of Randy.
Crystal said when she saw one of those signs at the Quispamsis Arena last week, she was filled with "an overwhelming feeling of pride and love for Randy."
"They had a sign up on the front of the arena that said, 'Go Flyers go. Bring home the Cup Randy, only eight wins to go.' I got a great big lump in my throat," she said.
"All the hours in the rink, all the money, all the hockey schools, the ups and downs that go with it. "¦"‰It was all worth it."
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