It's part of the Boston Bruins' game-day experience for a pair of youth hockey teams to face off in the afternoon at TD Garden.
Boys and girls, coaches, moms and dads all gather in the lobby of North Station, waiting to be escorted to a set of makeshift locker rooms about 50 yards away from the Stanley Cup-silver doors with a spoked B on them.
For these young players, it's the chance of a lifetime to skate on the same ice as their hockey idols. Even though it's only a fun scrimmage, these kids are still competitive. The parents sit in the stands at TD Garden and watch as their kids cut the ice in the same grooves left by Patrice Bergeron, Zdeno Chara and David Krejci.
On one particular day, these young players exited the ice and the team that lost was not happy.
The players' disappointment could be heard from outside their locker room. One coach explained it didn't actually matter that they lost because not every kid has a chance to skate on the same ice as the Bruins.
Still, the complaining continued, until one player chimed in, "If you're not having fun, don't come back."
Then, in typical hockey fashion, his teammate followed with a fart joke and the loss became an afterthought.
Meanwhile, their parents were on the concourse level, waiting for their children to return.
That parental involvement doesn't end at the amateur level. Even in the professional ranks, parents make their presence known, now more than ever -- and it affects the game, for better or for worse.
When Bruins coach Claude Julien first began his coaching career at the junior level, he would speak with parents as a group at the beginning of each season, because for many of the players it was their first time leaving home.
"It was important to meet the parents and it was important for the parents to have trust in me as a coach," Julien said. "School was a priority and if they didn't do well, they would miss practices in order to catch up, or we would get them tutors. We had to make parents feel comfortable about letting their kids leave home for the first time."
Julien remembers on a few occasions having to send a player home because he did not follow the rules and then later having to explain the situation to the player's parents.
Bruins defenseman Torey Krug witnessed that intensity -- and sometimes even inappropriate -- level of parental involvement while playing for the AHL team in Providence.
"You don't see it in the NHL. In the AHL, yeah, because a lot of those guys playing in the AHL are still kids," Krug said. "They're in their first year out of juniors or they've never lived on their own, so their parents would still go to all their junior games and yell at them when they're not playing well.
"It really is a tough situation because you can't tell your parents to beat it, but in all honesty, they only want what's best for you and they want to push you and they know you can be better."
Many involved in hockey at the professional level recently discussed how communication with parents has evolved in the past decade.
"I wouldn't say it's out of control, but it's certainly evolved. It is increasing and I definitely see it," said one Eastern Conference general manager. "It definitely has accelerated -- no question."
The priority of NHL executives and coaches is to put a winning product on the ice. They face the challenges of dealing with a salary cap, managing rosters, making trades and developing young talent. But they also have to deal with parents.
So, how do you deal with parents at the NHL level?
"We don't," said Brian Burke, the Calgary Flames' president of hockey operations. "Over the years I've had a few parents call me about a problem, but in general we don't. The agent's usually the person we talk to if there's an issue."
Julien agreed: "You dealt with [parents] more in juniors, but once you get to the pro level, agents take over."
And agents have horror stories to tell.
"I'll get texts from parents, drunk in the middle of the game, screaming 'Get my kid out of there, he should be traded,'" one agent said.
"Then some of the overbearing ones get in the kid's ear after a game, and you or the coach might have the kid in line and he's doing a good job, and then he gets on the phone with his parents ... and the kid's attitude goes completely south. ... They undermine everything you just did and you're back to square one."
Krug has seen the same thing, all the way back to his days in youth hockey when his father was coaching him.
"I've seen it where it becomes a hindrance to kids' development, and I also see it where guys can't grow up because their parents are so controlling and they have a big part of their lifestyle, not just hockey, and it kind of overflows into everything," Krug said. "It's a tough thing. A lot of parents are good at it. A lot of parents overstep their boundaries, so it really is a tough thing."
In the NHL, parents do send emails and text messages, but most of the interactions are in person at games. Agents reveal that parents will intentionally wait around after games in order to "bump" into a coach or a GM. Confrontations are rare, but parents aren't afraid to make an off-the-cuff remark. Parents will mention their child's glory days of junior or college hockey, and some believe the professional level is no different.
"It's only happened to me a few times, but it surprises me," said an Eastern Conference GM. "In [decades of experience], I'd say it's happened to me eight times, but four or five of those have happened in the last five years. You walk away from that communication like, 'I can't believe that just happened.' It's usually the parents of high-profile young players. I think parents feel more empowered now."
To be fair, not all organizations have serious issues with parents. Some situations need to be dealt with, but typically they don't develop into major, ongoing concerns.
Agents are the ones more likely to bear the brunt of overbearing parents simply because agents deal with young teenagers before they become pros, and those players' parents want what's best for their child.
"Parents fade out," said one Western Conference team's director of player development. "They are not a factor at the NHL level. They're more distracting if they are leeches."
These so-called leeches do exist.
"Hockey costs so much now, even to play youth hockey with the teams and the cost of equipment, a lot of these parents believe they have such a financial investment in their kid that they want something out of it," one agent said. "They have to get a reward from their kid and that causes parents to get way too involved, and that starts in high school and college. Parents are way too involved with coaches, scouts and everything. It's out of control."
In October 2014, Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Jack Johnson filed for bankruptcy after his parents left him in financial ruin. Before signing a seven-year, $30.5 million deal, Johnson gave power of attorney to his mother and split from agent Pat Brisson. Johnson's mother, Tina Johnson, borrowed at least $15 million against her son's future earnings, leaving Jack Johnson with debt exceeding $10 million, according to the bankruptcy filing.
"Nowadays, when GMs are drafting certain kids, they do some research into who the parents are," one agent said. "I bet you every team has had a good prospect go south because of parent involvement, or they had to trade a kid because the parents are overinvolved and GMs don't want to deal with it. It's a problem, a real problem. We try to talk with parents and try to keep them at bay. Some get it, but others can't help themselves, and it becomes a huge problem."
The financial commitment of playing hockey can be a burden for some parents. Ice time is limited and pre-sunrise practices are the norm. Equipment is expensive. Travel is costly.
"That's definitely a part of it. There's an investment, so it's quid pro quo," said one NHL GM. "It's too bad but there's definitely part of that. I get asked a lot by parents whose kids are good players, young good players, and I tell them, 'Let things evolve. Don't interfere. You have an interest in your son's career and everyone understands that, but often times your involvement can impact negatively.'"
Unfortunately, horror stories like these have been part of hockey for decades, and they tend to overshadow all the positive stories.
Case in point: Bruins rookie David Pastrnak has lived on his own since he was 15. The Czech Republic native moved away from home to play in Sweden. During his second season, only four days before his 17th birthday, Pastrnak's father passed away after a long illness, on May 21, 2013.
More than a year later, the Bruins drafted him in the first round (25th overall) on June 27, 2014. He now admits his relationship with his mother is stronger than ever. When the Bruins decided to recall Pastrnak from the AHL on a permanent basis, his mother arrived in Boston and spent a month to help him with the transition. Before his mother recently returned home to the Czech Republic, Pastrnak gave her the stick and puck he used to score his first NHL goal.
"The reason I do this is for her. That's why I'm here," Pastrnak said. "She worked hard and I want to give it back."
Krug added that, while he didn't always agree with his father while growing up, the support he has always received is priceless.
"It's always been that way but he doesn't overstep his boundaries," Krug said. "We're very respectful. We have conversations about the game. It's not him saying what to do or what not to do. It's a conversation and it goes both ways. He's still coaching and he tries to pick my brain. He's been great for me and he's the reason I'm here. I'll never turn him off when he's calling."
The majority of parents stay out of the way and allow for that natural progression. Most parents understand it's not their place to discuss their son's career -- at least on a professional standpoint -- with a GM or coach. Families have agents for a reason.
"In my opinion, I would never do that," the father of an NHL player said about contacting a GM. "That would jeopardize the relationship between the player and the general manager. [The GM] doesn't want to speak to me as a parent. If my son gets traded, or my son's not getting ice time, or he's a healthy scratch, and then the parents are phoning [the GM], texting or emailing him. I would love to do it to get an answer, but at that level I understand the business model. I would love to know the answer, believe me I really would, but I would not do that."
This father added, "The game is great, but the business sucks. Where's the fun factor? This NHL business is a tough business. I never envisioned it would be this nasty."
"When you talk about the role of parents, you have to be careful because you can go into any rink and find an idiot parent, but the fact is that the backbone of our system are the parents," Burke said. "They're the ones that pay for this. It's not an inexpensive sport. They drive their kids to hockey. It's a big commitment and 99 percent of the parents are just excellent with the kids. We've got to praise them more than we attack them, but there are a few that ruin the image of the rest.
"Again, we're talking about a tiny percentage of people that really ruin the image for the rest of the people that are there to cheer for their kids."