Macklin Celebrini’s mother drove him from Bay to Sacramento for practices – NBC Sports Bay Area & California

Macklin Celebrini became the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft on Friday night, and that might not have been possible without his super mom Robyn.

When Macklin’s father, Rick Celebrini, took the job as director of sports medicine and performance for the Golden State Warriors in 2019, the Celebrinis initially struggled to adjust to the Bay Area and the United States, living in the hockey-obsessed city of Vancouver.

Macklin played Triple-A hockey for the San Jose Jr. Sharks U14 team, but that came to an end in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The family, who lived in San Jose at the time, was on the hunt for a rink where Macklin, Aiden and RJ could all practice and train.

With most facilities closed, they eventually found a small ice skating rink open just outside of Sacramento. Robyn and the Celebrini kids packed their car at 6 a.m. and made a five-hour round-trip drive, five days a week, for several weeks.

Aiden, Macklin, RJ and their sister Charlie did their schoolwork in the car.

Once they arrived on the ice, the brothers worked on “self-directed skating and skill development” during individual sessions of about 90 minutes.

After dropping her sons off at the rink, Robyn played tennis with her daughter, Charlie, hitting balls for at least three hours before returning to the rink to pick up the boys and head back to San Jose.

“Like everyone else, you’re trying to find ice and where to train because you don’t want to lose ground. But when you look back, it’s crazy,” Macklin said (h/t ESPN.com). ‘That’s exactly what we did. That’s one of the sacrifices my parents made for us. That’s seven hours of their day spent catering for us and making sure we have everything we need.

“Looking back, it was crazy that we did that, but at the time it was our only choice.”

Robyn and Rick now live in Livermore, where their son has been recruited for the team whose training facility is 30 miles away.

They may have to drive forty minutes to his game, but it’s better than the five-hour drives four years ago that finally paid off.

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