Matt Duchene with family Matt Duchene/Instagram
When his Dallas Stars traveled to Pittsburgh to face the Penguins, Matt Duchene had quite the cheering section back home in the Lone Star State.
Matt, 33, opened the scoring during the Monday, November 11, game, which drew an enthusiastic reaction from two of the NHL star’s kids watching on TV.
“Yes! Daddy scored! Daddy! Daddy!” Matt’s son, Beau, 5, screamed in footage from an in-home camera that Matt shared via Instagram. Duchene’s daughter Jaymes, 4, trailed behind her older brother, wailing with similar delight.
The Stars center and his wife, Ashley Duchene, also share daughter Ellie, 22 months.
Matt’s adorable video was shared by the NHL’s Instagram account, which called it “the cutest thing you’ll see today.”
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Many of the hockey star’s followers agreed and let it be known in the comments — including country music singer Russell Dickerson.
“ABSOLUTE PURITY!!!!!!!,” Russell, 37, wrote.
Another commented, “Made me laugh! His kids are so cute. He’s an excellent human to boot. ❤️.”
Matt Duchene Sam Hodde/Getty Images
Even a Pittsburgh fan couldn’t help but enjoy the moment. “I’m a Penguins fan,” one wrote. “How dare you make me love that he scored! 🤣”
Matt’s goal, which kicked off a 7-1 rout of the Penguins, came on the heels of the family celebrating Jaymes’ fourth birthday.
“You are such a gift from God and you make everyone’s day brighter with your sweet smile and kind heart,” Matt wrote via Instagram. “We love who you are and can’t wait to see who you become. Love you so much baby ❤️❤️”
To celebrate his wife’s birthday earlier this year, Matt gushed about how she makes the whole family operation run smoothly. (The pair dated for years before tying the knot in July 2017.)
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“Happy birthday babe!” he wrote via Instagram in June. “I know I tell you all the time and write it every time in all these posts but we could not be more blessed to have you as a mom, a wife and my absolute best friend! We love you soooooo much 😘❤️.”
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Last year, when her husband was still with the Nashville Predators, Ashley opened up about the specific hurdles of parenting while her husband is on the road.
“I don’t think it really felt like the challenges of the motherhood aspect until this year, just with the kids getting a bit older,” Ashley told NHL.com. “[Beau] realizes when Matt’s gone because we’re not going to games or his schedule just changes so drastically when Matt’s home versus when Matt’s not. So I think that’s definitely been more difficult this year.”
She added, “But then it’s also been fun in the sense that he wants to stay up later to watch games and understands what city daddy’s in, and he’s learning the mascots and the teams. So that’s been really fun.”
