Goaltender Cam Talbot will be between the pipes for Edmonton Oilers Tuesday night but the next morning he has another job: becoming a dad.
Cam and his wife, Kelly, are gearing up to welcome twins. The cesarean section is scheduled for Wednesday morning.
“We kind of planned it when we sat down with the doctor a couple of months ago when we came to town,” Cam said. “We looked at the schedule and we said, ‘this day works. It is between two games, will probably get the day off. I am sure the coaches will allow it,’ so it’s been scheduled for a couple months now.
“Something to look forward to for sure.”
Keeping his mind on the game when the birth is on the horizon has been a challenge, Cam admitted.
“It’s a bit of a battle. There’s a lot of excitement for tomorrow morning but I’ve got another two points to get tonight before that happens. So my mind is on tonight and I will worry about tomorrow after that.”
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“You kind of have to find that balance and try to just focus on hockey when you are at the rink. We are only here three or four hours a day – shouldn’t be too hard,” Cam said.
“It’s not always easy but you have to find a way to do that because when you are here you have one thing to focus on and that’s this team and playing your best game.”
Win or lose, the surgery means it will be an early morning for the Talbots.
“We’ve got to be at the hospital at 5:30/5:45 in the morning and then scheduled for 7:30 or 8:00 so hopefully everything goes well from there,” Cam said.
In the weeks and months leading up to the big day, the couple has been nesting and even welcoming some family support.
“Twins can come any time so we’ve been tried to be prepared for the last month,” Cam said. “The cribs and strollers and everything have been built, car seats are in. Everything is ready to go.”
“My in-laws came into town about a week-and-a-half ago,” he added. “Not having to leave my wife at home alone took a lot off of my mind.”
The dad-to-be is hopeful everything goes smoothly on Wednesday and Kelly and he can take their twins home “in a few days.”
Talbot, a Caledonia, Ont. native, signed with the Oilers in June 2015.
The team signed him to a three-year contract extension in January 2016.
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Talbot, 29, has a 2-1-0-0 record with a 4.62 goals against average and a save percentage of .869 for the season.
The six-foot-three 193-pound netminder played parts of two seasons with the New York Rangers before joining Edmonton.
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