Josh Manson played for more than just his hockey team on Saturday. He played in honor of his late mother.
A 32-year-old defenseman for the Colorado Avalanche, Manson remembered his mother prior to, throughout and after the Avs’ Game 3 against the Dallas Stars on Saturday, just one day before Mother’s Day.
Manson’s mother, Lana, died in August after a seven-year-long battle with melanoma. This is his first postseason without Lana, and Manson detailed what this season has been like in an interview with SportsNet.
“Not a day goes by where I don’t think of her,” Manson said. “Especially now, in the playoffs, you go through your routines in hockey. Before every game, she’d text me, ‘Good luck, Josh,’ or whatever. Not having that text, it’s a big hole.”
Manson’s father, Dave, played for seven teams during an almost 20-year NHL career. While that influence was crucial for Josh, he credited his mother just as much.
With Dave on the road often, Lana was responsible for taking Josh to skates and practices.
“She was the best mom ever,” Manson said.
And in Lana’s lengthy battle with melanoma, her toughness was on display. Manson, a second-line defender, is known for his scrappy play and stingy defense.
In Saturday’s game — a 4-1 loss to the Stars — Manson blocked three shots and logged two hits.
Evidently, his grit is inherited.
“Everything that I get, the majority comes from her,” Manson said. “She was so tough, oh my gosh.”
Manson began his career with the Anaheim Ducks in 2014. He spent eight seasons there before being traded to the Colorado Avalanche in 2021.
During his more than a decade in the league, winning the 2022 Stanley Cup with the Avalanche is his most treasured moment.
Winning the Stanley Cup is the pinnacle of team hockey success. But something more than a trophy made that run even more special: Lana’s condition worsened, and she wasn’t able to attend any games in the 2022-23 season.
“I wish I would’ve known that it would be the last time she’d be able to come to my game and be there to really support me,” Manson said. “That was very special.”
Now in his third season with the Avalanche and less than a year removed from Lana’s death, Manson enters every game with a simple mantra passed down from his mother.
“Live every day like it’s your last,” Manson said. “I know she did that. She was an incredible person.”
