John Tavares is marking his hockey sticks with the name of his newborn son

BarDown Staff

John Tavares , Getty Images

Shortly before the start of the new season, John Tavares also experienced something else new: He became a first-time dad just days before training camp!

We imagine it’s been a pretty wild time for Tavares and his family, but as he embarks on the new season, he’s bringing his baby boy Jace with him to the ice — at least in spirit. Tavares has added a little piece of tape with ‘Jacer’ scribbled in to the handle of his stick.

#JohnTavares taking his newborn son Jace to the ice with him, whenever he plays 👀

A post shared by TSN (@tsn_official) on Oct 8, 2019 at 8:08am PDT

It even turns out that Tavares got the idea for the name from one of his former teammates in junior and international play, Sam Gagner.

JT's son is named Jace so where did "Jacer" come from?

"Sammy Gagner is the one who actually gave it to him. He messaged me & called him that so it stuck with me right away."
— Mark Masters (@markhmasters) October 8, 2019

Even despite the rigors of the hockey season, Jace has already been a factor for the elder JT and even his team. Nobody better to deliver the news that his dad is going to be the 25th captain of the Leafs, right?