“He was the first one I called,” said John McCarron, who is on a professional tryout in St. John’s after being summoned from the Florida Everblades.
“It was like, ‘Hey, you have any coats in St. John’s?’ But he had taken them to Montreal, so I had to get a coat and a couple pairs of pants because I’ve been wearing shorts all year.”
John McCarron had been averaging a point-per-game with the Everblades, who play just south of Fort Myers, at the time of his recall.
But with Mike up with the Montreal Canadiens, there was no chance for the two to play together as the IceCaps closed out their recent road trip in upstate New York last week, and opened a homestand last Friday and Saturday in St. John’s.
But that changed Monday when Mike was reassigned to the IceCaps, and the brothers got a chance to play together Wednesday night, a game in which St. John’s lost 3-1 to the Utica Comets at Mile One Centre.
Not only did the McCarrons dress, IceCaps coach Sylvain Lefebvre had the brothers in the starting lineup, along with Anthony Camara, another player in St. John’s on a tryout.
The appearance of the brothers marked the second time that siblings appeared for St. John’s in the same AHL game. Mike and Jeff Ware dressed for the St. John’s Maple Leafs back in the mid-1990s.
Brothers Darryl and Darrin Shannon, and David and Joe Sacco also played for the Leafs, but in neither case, at the same time.
Marc and Lou Crawford both coached the Maple Leafs and Lou played three games for St. John’s in 1993-94 when his brother was behind the bench.
While the McCarron brothers train and skate together in the off-season, Wednesday marked the first time the two have played together. That’s because John is 24 and Mike is 21, meaning they were never in the same hockey age group growing up.
“It was a special moment, and something I’ll remember forever,” said Mike McCarron. “It was pretty sweet.”
The brothers look very much alike, although Michael is the taller of the two at 6-6. John is about 6-3.
The two took different routes to pro hockey.
John McCarron played junior hockey in Lincoln, Neb., before playing four years at Cornell University. He was drafted in the sixth round, 153rd overall, by the Edmonton Oilers in 2012, but never signed with the team.
He turned pro last season, splitting time between the ECHL’s Wheeling Nailers and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the AHL.
Mike, on the other hand, was part of the U.S. national team development program. Rather than go the NCAA route, he played Canadian major junior hockey in London and Oshawa, Ont.
He was drafted by the Canadiens in the first round, 25th overall, in 2013.
“It was a bit different in high school because we were always off doing our own thing, practising with our own teams,” Mike said. “He was in Nebraska and I was still in Michigan.
“Later in life, we’re hanging out quite often. We live together in London and we train together. We’ve been together a lot more the last two or three years.”
They hope it continues in St. John’s, where the IceCaps take on the Albany Devils Saturday night and Sunday afternoon.
