NORTH CHELMSFORD, Mass. — The search for the real Jack Eichel has to begin in this community of 9,300 about 30 miles northwest of Boston. But the breadcrumbs are few. What is it, exactly, that made Eichel into a person who, as his friend Dan Ferri says, was “obsessed” with being an NHL player? There are no pushy stage parents to be found here. Bob and Anne Eichel, by all accounts, never pressured their son into playing hockey. If they were only interested in their son’s financial success, they haven’t done a good job of showing it since Eichel was selected second overall by the Buffalo Sabres in the 2015 NHL draft. Both continue to work, Bob as a foreman for a plumbing company and Anne as a registered nurse. Money may not have been plentiful, but there was plenty enough for a comfortable middle-class upbringing. There are no tales of a kid being bullied in school, wanting thereafter to prove everyone wrong. Ferri said Eichel “got along with just about everybody.” There was no peer from youth hockey he constantly compared himself to. According to Ferri, Eichel “was a lot better than everyone right from the start.” No dramatic backstory can be found to explain why a kid felt the need to work out as often as four times a day, felt guilty on holidays for not being able to get into the gym and regularly drove hours out of his way to find a rink or weight room that might still be open. Those extra hours of dedication had their payoff
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