RALEIGH, N.C. — When the Carolina Hurricanes eliminated the Montreal Canadiens to win the Eastern Conference, Jason Blake didn’t jump for joy. He didn’t pump his fists. He didn’t scream.“I just stood there and watched,” he said. “‘Oh, here come the waterworks.'”For a guy who played 871 NHL games, represented the United States in the Olympics and World Cup of Hockey and carved out a 13-year NHL career through relentless work ethic and lightning-fast speed, he figured he’d seen just about everything hockey could throw at him.He hadn’t.Not this.Nineteen years after he played in the Minnesota state high school tournament for Moorhead, Jason had already watched his oldest son, Jackson, score in double overtime to deliver Eden Prairie High a state championship in 2021. Getting to watch Jackson play for the Stanley Cup, that was too much.“I’m just super proud,” Jason told The Athletic this week. “I was fortunate to play in the league for a long time and got to play in the playoffs. Never got out of the first round. But to watch your kid — and as a parent, you always want your kids to grow up to be better than you at whatever that is, whether it’s hockey or in business or whatever — I don’t even know how to put it in words. I am so emotionally proud of him, and every time I look at him, you just want to hug him because I can’t tell you how proud I am of him.“Dude, my kid’s playing in the Stanley Cup Final.”Jackson is just 22 years old, and after making the conference final as a rookie last year, he’s already appeared in 30 career playoff games after Thursday night’s Game 2 4-3 overtime win over the Vegas Golden Knights. That equals the number his dad played in his 13-year career. He’s Carolina’s second-leading scorer with 15 points in 15 games, playing on a fast, high-energy line with Taylor Hall and Logan Stankoven.The trio has combined for 20 goals and 44 points in 15 games, with Blake scoring the series-clinching goal in overtime to eliminate the Philadelphia Flyers and catapult the Canes into the conference final.Anything to do with hockey in Jackson’s life, Jason has been right there by his side.It’s more than a father-son relationship or even a mentor-student relationship.“We are literally best friends — inseparable best friends,” Jason said. “We talk three, four times a day.”Asked if that’s an exaggeration, Jason laughed: “No. Every single day.”Jason coached Jackson as a squirt, then on the Minnesota Blades. He’s trained with him. To this day, he studies video with him almost weekly on FaceTime from his home in Minnesota.Jackson Blake joins Jason Blake on the ice during Dad’s Maple Leafs days. (Courtesy of Jason Blake)This past week, Jason’s been there in person, staying at the house Jackson recently bought in Raleigh. So too, in fact, were Jackson’s girlfriend, Jane, 25-year-old sister, Lauren, 19-year-old sister, Anna Belle and 13-year-old brother, Brooks, a peewee hockey player.