It was a goal Tanner Jeannot had been working toward his entire hockey career. He seemed to be getting closer and closer to it every step of the way in the bizarre world of the 2021 season, and last night, as his teammates looked on, he put his skates on the ice as a National Hockey League player for the first time. 

Jeannot, a 23-year-old forward from Oxbow, was called up to play for the Predators thanks to a stellar showing in the first part of the season with the Chicago Wolves. As is tradition, he took the solo lap around the rink all rookies take in their first NHL game. 

"It's just surreal," he said. "You've worked so hard your entire life to get to that moment, and that's kind of the moment that it hits you when you're going out for that lap. You're heading out onto the ice and it's all kind of hitting you at once. Really I was just focused on not falling and looking dumb. But it was really great, an unbelievable experience that I'll never forget."

From there, after a few nervous jitters, Jeannot did what he's always done: get to work. On a line with veteran Colton Scissons and AHL teammate Mathieu Olivier, he played just under seven minutes in the Predators 4-2 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes, ironically the same team the Predators share an AHL affiliate with. 

"I had a little bit of jitters at the start, I thought, a bit of a slow start," Jeannot said. "After I got comfortable with what was coming at me and the speed of the game, I thought I picked it up as the game went on and I got better and better. Hopefully, I can keep it going into the next one."

The next one comes tomorrow night as the Preds meet the Florida Panthers. Whether Jeannot is in the lineup for this one or not is not yet determined, but regardless of what happens between now and Thursday, the approach from him will remain the same. 

"What's gotten me here is working hard," he said. "For any of the kids listening back home in southeast Saskatchewan, I can tell them that hard work never goes unnoticed. Even if you're shooting pucks in the backyard and you don't think anyone's around, that stuff never goes unnoticed because it's going to show up in your game. That's how I am as a player. I just want to give everything I have every single shift to help my team."