Big day for Nolan Family

EDITI apologize for bad reporting. I misread the article in Newsday and I initially wrote that Ted Nolan would skip Saturday's game against the Capitals in order to watch Brandon Nolan's NHL debut. He'll be behind the Isles bench, but the rest of the family will be in Tampa.

On Saturday, the Islanders will be hosting the Capitals. Their coach, Ted Nolan, won't be there. Instead, he'll be While Ted Nolan is behind the Isles bench, the rest of the family will be in Tampa, rooting for his son Brandon, who will be making his NHL debut with the Hurricanes.
Chad LaRose has been placed on the IR with a concussion and Justin Williams will be out for at least four months with reconstructive knee surgery. This paved the way for the 24-year old Nolan to make his NHL debut.

He will be the second son of an NHL coach to make his NHL debut this season. Earlier this season, Brady Murray (son of St. Louis coach Andy Murray) made his debut with the Kings.

At some point in the not too distant future, another son of an NHL coach will make his debut wearing a Hurricanes sweater. Probably sometime in the 2008-09 season, Brandon Sutter, son of Devils coach Brent Sutter, will play his first game in the NHL. At that point, Carolina will have the unusual distinction of having two sons of NHL coaches on their team.

Ted Nolan told Newsday:

"Now you have a sense of what fathers feel like when their sons play for the first time in the National Hockey League. Fathers are very proud, and I'm no different. My wife [Sandra] and younger son will be flying down to Tampa to watch him play tomorrow night, and we'll all get together for a Christmas celebration."

full story

Ted Nolan is a good man. Putting his son before himself.

One interesting tidbit from that article: Brandon isn't afraid to drop the gloves, and not that it's something the Canes are looking for, but he has a bit of a boxing pedigree:

Brandon Nolan is a tough player, who has been known to get into a few scraps. Recently, he got into a fight with Islanders prospect Jeremy Colliton in an AHL game. Nolan said he doesn’t encourage his son to fight, but he knows his son is prepared when the time comes to drop the gloves.

“We’re from a boxing family,” Nolan said. “Brandon has had boxing lessons at home all his life. My brother was a pro boxer, and my two cousins were pro boxers. Fisticuffs is something we don’t shy away from, but you don’t want them to fight more so than [play hockey].”