Patrick Sharp can only hope his second daughter has the impeccable timing and positive effect that his first, Madelyn, did. It was on Dec. 8, 2011, that Sharp scored the game-winning goal in overtime on Long Island. When he called home, his wife, Abby, quickly trumped his big news.
“I wanted to call home and ask my wife if she saw me score, and [have her] tell me how great I was, and she said, ‘I think I’m having the baby,'” Sharp said. “Had the baby [the next day], and scored the game-winner [in overtime against San Jose] on Sunday, too. Special weekend.”
Abby is due on Monday, but Sharp said she’s “starting to feel a little funny.” The Hawks traveled to St. Louis on Tuesday afternoon for Wednesday’s game against the Blues. If Sharp’s on the ice when Abby goes into labor, she’ll call senior director of team services Tony Ommen to notify him.
Sharp said he’s hoping not to miss any games — when Madelyn was born, all he missed was a practice, “which was nice” — but that he would if had to.
“If I’m on the ice, I might as well just [finish the game and] take the charter flight home,” Sharp said. “That’ll be the quickest way home.”
