Jackson Blake brought the Stanley Cup back to Minnesota and turned the moment into a family-and-friends gathering at a community center, with his father, Jason, right there for the celebration.
Jason Blake and other family members showed up in white “Canes Cup Champions” T-shirts featuring a graphic of Jackson lifting the Cup. At the event, father and son posed together for a photo with the Stanley Cup on the ice.
Jason Blake spent 871 games as an NHL forward, but he never got a chance to play for the Cup himself.
The crowd also included the Eden Prairie varsity boys hockey team, along with other alumni from the program. One of them was Jackson’s friend and former high school teammate Mason Langenbrunner, who just wrapped up a four-year run as a defenseman at Harvard University.
Jackson and Langenbrunner were part of Eden Prairie’s Class 2A Minnesota boys state hockey championship team in 2021, when Jackson scored the overtime winner in the title game. He later did it again for Chicago of the United States Hockey League, scoring the game-winner to capture the Clark Cup.
Big goals have become a theme.
“He’s mentally strong and doesn’t fear the moment,” said Lee Smith, the former Eden Prairie boys high school coach who coached Jackson. “I think the thing that always stood out with him is he was really never satisfied. He always wanted to get better.”
For Langenbrunner, watching Jackson reach this point felt personal.
Seeing Jackson win the Stanley Cup is “such a full-circle moment,” Langenbrunner said.
“We’ve been making jokes about it, which one feels better to win,” he added. “He keeps going back and forth, giving props to the Minnesota (state) tournament as well.
“It’s so cool. We’re obviously so proud of him.”
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