‘It’s going to be one of the best days of my life’: Flyers’ Jackson Cates, 150 others turn up for Noah Cates’ NHL debut in Minnesota

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Jeff Cates never dreamed he’d have one son make the NHL, much less two. He certainly didn’t think he’d one day have two sons on the same NHL team.

But with Noah Cates making his NHL debut Tuesday, both of Jeff’s sons have now played for the Flyers.

» READ MORE: Noah Cates looking forward to ‘picture-perfect’ debut with Flyers

“I think it’s ironic that they’re at Philadelphia,” Jeff said. “The city of brotherly love. I kind of keep thinking of that, that they’re in this town, that maybe it was meant to be.”

The only thing that would have made it better would have been if Jackson and Noah lined up next to each other. However, Jackson is out with an undisclosed injury he suffered on March 5 after taking a scary-looking spill into the boards while playing for the Phantoms.

Even injured, Jackson found a way to be there for his brother. As soon as he heard the news that Noah had signed his NHL contract, he booked a flight to Minneapolis for him and his girlfriend. Seeing him brought his mother, Jenny, to tears.

Noah said before the game that watching Jackson make his NHL debut in 2021 was one of the best moments of his life. His older brother feels the same. They’ve always been best friends, his mom Jenny said, and even though Noah has received more attention because he’s younger, Jackson has never been bothered by it.

“It’s going to be one of the best days of my life,” Jackson said of Noah’s NHL debut, choking up. “It’s been a lot of emotions today. I’m excited to watch. I can’t wait.”

It seems like just yesterday Jenny was pretending to be a public address announcer introducing Jackson and Noah. She would ask them what number and team they wanted her to announce. It was usually either their high school, Stillwater, their local college, the Minnesota Gophers, or their NHL team, the Minnesota Wild.

Both Jackson and Noah ended up winning a national title with the Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs, the Gophers’ rival. And on Tuesday, Noah debuted against the Wild.

Playing at Xcel Energy Center in his NHL debut added to the dreamlike quality of the day for Noah, who also played there in high school and college. It also allowed about 150 of his friends, family and teammates to attend.

The Cateses scrapped together as many tickets as they could find. Jackson got a suite, and a family friend got another. Somehow, the whole Minnesota-Duluth team got tickets, as did countless others.

When Noah came out for his rookie lap, the glass was lined three sections long with his teammates and friends. They banged on the glass and chanted his name.

Jackson stood a few rows back, videoing it with a huge smile on his face. His father and grandfather stood halfway up the section, both of them beaming. His mom ran up higher, trying to get a good view to film it.

As Noah participated in warmups, his former teammates cheered every time he skated by, bringing a huge smile to his face. Noah said it was really special to see his former teammates make the trip from Duluth. He was particularly touched by the youth teams from his town who came to support him.

“I was that kid back in the day,” Noah said. “So it’s special that they can see a Stillwater alum playing his first NHL game.”

In between narrating Noah’s every move, they exclaimed things like “Kevin Hayes just passed him the puck!” One turned to the other and said “So crazy. Unbelievable.”

Four of Cates’ friends wore jerseys from the various steps of his career — high school, college, and the Olympics. They wore them backwards so that “Cates” was displayed on their chests as they leaned against the glass.

Their enthusiasm infected the rest of the Flyers, who broke out into big grins or chuckles whenever they skated by the section during warmups. At one point, the Cates fans started calling to goalie Martin Jones to let Cates score, and when he did, they went wild.

“That was probably the highlight of the night for us,” Flyers winger Cam Atkinson said. From there, it was all downhill for the Flyers who surrendered the first goal and never recovered. They avoided getting shut out thanks to a Morgan Frost power-play goal in the third, but lost 4-1. With the defeat, the Flyers were officially eliminated from playoff contention.

Ahead of the game, both Jackson and Jenny told Noah to just have fun and play his game. Jenny emphasized he didn’t need to score a goal or anything — he can focus on that the next day. But on his debut, she wanted him to just take it in.

Interim coach Mike Yeo said that it’s hard to find positives in a 4-1 defeat, but was impressed with Cates’ performance.

“For a first game, it’s a game that builds trust from a coach, obviously, and his teammates as well,” Yeo said.

Noah started out on the third line with Frost and Owen Tippett before moving to the first line with Joel Farabee and Atkinson in the third period. He said he’s still getting acclimated, but he wants to focus on building that trust.

Noah understands the Flyers are struggling but sees it as an opportunity. Out of contention, the Flyers are free to experiment, which means Noah will gain more experience. He hopes he can prove he’s a part of the solution.

“I think coming from Duluth and how big of a culture it is out there and what a winning culture takes, trying to kind of start that, like I said, in the trust from your teammates, for me personally” Noah said.