When France Gareau Foudy answered the phone on Monday afternoon, she could tell there was something different in her youngest son, Jean-Luc’s voice.
“Is everything OK?” She asked as she took the call from her classroom in Toronto where she teaches the French language to elementary schoolers.
“I just called up,” Foudy explained. “‘I’ve got to go. The flight is leaving at 1:30.’ I told him, ‘Good luck!’ and that was it. And we were like, ‘Well I guess we should look at flights!'”
France and her husband Sean immediately began looking at flights from Toronto to Winnipeg so they could watch Foudy make his NHL debut in person on Tuesday night as the Colorado Avalanche took on the Jets.
“Yesterday morning I got a call from [Avalanche General Manager Chris MacFarland] telling me that I was coming with the boys to Winnipeg,” Foudy said with a grin on Tuesday ahead of his debut. “That was exciting. I called my parents and brother right away and let them know. From there, it’s just been traveling and now, I’m here. It’s been going pretty fast, but I’m enjoying it.”
The Avalanche recalled their 2020 third rounder (75th overall) in the wake of Evan Rodrigues‘ suffering a lower-body injury on Nov. 23 against Vancouver and the absence of Martin Kaut, who will miss Colorado’s four-game road trip due to illness.
Foudy’s effective play with the Eagles – where he produced five goals and 14 points in 18 games – had put him on the Avalanche’s radar as a potential option to bring up. Avalanche Head Coach Jared Bednar had even phoned the 20-year-old centerman last week to affirm that Foudy was still in a good spot, despite the coaches choosing to recall Oskar Olausson instead for Wednesday’s game against Vancouver, according to Sean.
“He came to us last week and said he was maybe going to be called up by the Avalanche,” Sean explained. “I was hoping between then and Christmas he’d get a shot. We weren’t entirely surprised, but it was quicker than we expected. It was great.”
For France – who was an Olympic sprinter who won a silver medal for Team Canada at the 1984 Summer Olympics – and Sean – who played in the Canadian Football League for the Ottawa Rough Riders and BC Lions from 1989-94. – this wasn’t their first experience at scrambling to go watch their son make his NHL debut.
Their older son, Liam, is currently a center for the Columbus Blue Jackets. The 22-year-old made his NHL debut with Columbus back in February of 2020 in Buffalo as an emergency call-up and shared the news with his parents at 6 p.m. the night before he’d hit the ice.
And while France was already slated to take next week off of work to attend the Mother’s Trip with Liam and the Blue Jackets, she explained the situation with her principal, who was more than understanding.
“She was like, ‘I can’t take another day off!’ and I was like, ‘Yeah, you can!'” Sean said with a laugh. “You want to be there for the first game. You never know if they’ll get there again. We were there for our other son’s first game so we weren’t going to miss this. It worked out really well that we could make it.”
France and Sean didn’t share with Foudy that they had made the trip out to Winnipeg until a few hours before the game as they hoped he’d be surprised.
Prior to the game Foudy stood in the tunnel that leads to the ice and took in the moment that years of hard work, passion and drive throughout his hockey career had been working towards. And as the Avalanche took the ice for warmup, Foudy went out on his own for the signature rookie lap.
“Just stick to my game and do what I do best,” Foudy said of what he hoped to bring in his debut. “I think that’s my skating so just bring that tonight and just play my game.”
During the eventual 5-0 Avalanche loss, Foudy skated alongside Alex Newhook and Alex Galchenyuk, logged 12:11 minutes, took one penalty and fired off three shots. Foudy also donned No. 93 in his debut and became the first player in Avalanche/Québec Nordiques history to wear that number.
And while the end result wasn’t ideal, it was still a memorable and deserving night for the entire Foudy family.
“He’s not a guy who gets intimidated by the situation,” Sean said. “I admire him for that. He believes in himself. If you don’t, no one else is going to. He’s a very confident young man.”
