A Marchment returns to the ice in San Jose — with the Florida Panthers

For the first time in his NHL career, Mason Marchment will return to his old stomping grounds in San Jose when the Florida Panthers take on the Sharks on Tuesday night.

It is a place which holds a lot of memories as he was a youngster when he dad Bryan was a bruising defenseman for the Sharks from 1998-2003.

Although the return of Joe Thornton to San Jose on Tuesday night will get all of the attention, Marchment is going to enjoy his San Jose homecoming as well.

“I’m definitely excited for it, I haven’t been there since I was 14,” Mason Marchment told Florida Hockey Now.

“It would be nice to see everyone again. When they came down last time, I got to see the staff. It’s all the same guys, so it was cool.”

Monday afternoon, he got a big taste of home as the Panthers practiced at the Sharks’ facility and Marchment seemed to enjoy himself immensely.

“Driving into this little area where we’re staying, it felt like home a little bit,” Marchment said. “This rink is probably the one I have been in the most since I grew up around it. It’s great to be back.”

Mason spent a number of his formative years hanging around the Sharks’ locker room as his dad looked on.

“He was three or four when we got there and left at around seven or eight,” Bryan Marchment told FHN on Monday. “We didn’t bring the kids to the room all that much back then, but when he (was there), he just wanted to hang with the guys.”

Mason may not have known it at the time, but he was getting a good lesson on what it took to be a professional hockey player during those visits.

Those lessons have been paying off for him ever since — for both Marchment and the Florida Panthers.