Ray Ferraro volunteered a confession. The retired NHL forward, now working as an analyst with ESPN in the U.S. (and with TSN in Canada), is scheduled to work a game between the Seattle Kraken and the Anaheim Ducks on a Friday night later this month.

The game will have his undivided attention for approximately one hour.

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After that, one eye will be on the ice, and the other will almost certainly be on the computer screen that will accompany him into the arena. His body will be in Southern California, but every other part of him will be in Beijing, watching his son Landon and his Canadian hockey teammates play Team USA at the Olympics.

“If you’re listening for astute observation,” Ferraro admitted, “you might get it from the wrong game.”

Landon Ferraro was a second-round pick in the 2009 NHL Draft, taken only 31 spots behind the first overall selection, John Tavares. It took him almost five years to make his big-league debut, and he held on for another 76 regular-season games before his career took him overseas.

It was the injuries, and his father listed the worst of them: Hip surgery, on both sides, and knee injuries, including what amounted to a total reconstruction. (“Basically, his whole lower half,” said Ray.)

In December, when the NHL announced it was withdrawing from Beijing, it created opportunity for a tapestry of young prospects and ancient veterans. It also rewarded players who had lost their spot with the NHL but not their desire to rebound from whatever might have knocked them off course.

Landon Ferraro fell into that last category. He was with the team in Davos, Switzerland, this week, and will play in Beijing with both the aged (Eric Staal, 37; Daniel Winnik, 36) and the emergent (Mason McTavish, 19; Owen Power, 19).

“I’m just so happy to watch him play,” said Ray. “I love that he’s enjoying the game again.”

Gord Miller is a play-by-play announcer at TSN who has worked with Ferraro for years, a journey that has taken them across the hockey universe and created an arsenal of travel anecdotes that should fill an entire book. One of those stories involves Landon, and a trip to New York.

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Miller and Ferraro were covering a playoff series, but Landon was playing with Canada in the under-18 world hockey championships, in Fargo, N.D. According to his travel partner, Ferraro was unable to find a functioning stream to watch the game.

“He came to my room and watched it on my laptop,” said Miller.

Darren Dreger, the TSN hockey analyst, can remember nights when Landon Ferraro was playing in the Western Hockey League while his father was in studio for the network’s NHL coverage.

“We’d be on set doing games in Toronto,” Dreger said with a laugh, “while he’s watching Landon play.”

Ray Ferraro lives in Vancouver with his wife, Cammi Granato — the U.S. Olympic hero and member of the Hockey Hall of Fame — and their two sons, Riley and Reese.

“He jumps through hoops,” said Dreger, who also hosts a podcast with Ferraro. “He takes crazy flights, he does all these things just so he can get home to take Riley to a soccer practice, or make sure he’s there for a game.”

And no matter the time difference, he will be awake to watch Landon compete in Beijing. (Landon and his older brother, Matt, 33, are Ferraro’s sons from a previous marriage.)

“(Landon’s) journey is one of real perseverance through a lot of injuries,” said Miller. “I think it’s hard when someone in hockey tells you that you’re not good enough, but it’s even harder when you don’t get a real chance because you’re not healthy.”

Landon Ferraro has been fielding questions about his father since childhood. Ray Ferraro played in the NHL for 18 seasons, a career than included 898 points over 1,258 regular-season games. In retirement, he became one of the most respected television colour analysts in the sport, as well as lending his voice to the popular EA Sports video game series.

“It’s just something that’s brought me and my dad closer and closer,” Landon said in a Zoom call from Davos. “Any question I’ve had, he’s always been able to answer and kind of give me some insight. Goes off the rails a little bit if it gets onto the PK or blocking shots.

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“He avoided that at all costs.”

He smiled.

Landon Ferraro began his minor hockey career in Atlanta, where his father had played for the franchise that would eventually become the Winnipeg Jets. He moved to the Lower Mainland, in B.C., where the minor hockey landscape provided both a culture shock and an elevated level of competition.

He would go on to spend parts of four seasons with the Red Deer Rebels, and then one with the Everett Silvertips, before moving into the professional ranks. The Detroit Red Wings drafted him 32nd overall in 2009 but eventually placed him on waivers after just 17 games across three seasons.

The Bruins picked him up, and he made his Boston debut against the Maple Leafs. It was in Toronto, and TSN carried the broadcast, which meant his father was working between the benches as an analyst. After the first period, the father got to interview the son on air. (“For the first time, we think, in hockey history, or at least hockey television history,” TSN host James Duthie said while introducing the segment, “the analyst Ray Ferraro interviewing the son, Landon Ferraro.”)

After Hockey Canada made its roster decision for the Olympic team, the son got to tell his father over a FaceTime call from Germany, where he is playing professionally, in Cologne.

“Obviously, he knows everything I’ve been through,” he said. “I’ve had a ton of injuries, and I didn’t know if I’d be able to keep playing anymore. I kind of put in all the work and saw all the doctors and got everything figured out to where the body feels pretty good and, hopefully, I can play five or six more years.”

Ray Ferraro said he knew the moment the FaceTime call connected. He could see the look in his son’s face. It was the best day, he said, noting he probably told his wife a version of the same sentence more than 20 times that day: “Landon’s going to the Olympics.”

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Ray never made it to the Olympics as a player, but Granato has deep ties to the Games. She was a star with the U.S. team, winning gold when hockey debuted as a medal sport for women, at the 1998 Games in Nagano, and earning silver four years later, in Salt Lake City.

Ray Ferraro continued to relay news from his son’s adventures with the national team. He told Granato the everyday stories of team meals and of bonding experiences with new teammates.

“She just started to cry,” said Ray. “She’s like, ‘I’m so happy for him.’”

Long before the roster was announced, Ray turned down a chance to cover the Games. (As it turned out, both NBC and the CBC decided not to send play-by-play crews to Beijing, citing concerns around COVID-19 and the host country’s policies.)

With his son on the roster, it was probably for the best, he said. Now, he just gets to watch him play.

“It’s about a kid who pursued his dream — which was to play in the NHL — and then got taken down a different road, but he just found a way to grind and stay in the game, and find enjoyment again,” said the father. “This lightning bolt makes it all seem worthwhile.”

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(Photo: Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)