I'M GOING TO HAVE TO FIGHT YOU ON THIS. BOB ZIMMERMANN NEVER FORCED JACK TO PLAY HOCKEY AND ONLY SUPPORTED HIM AS MUCH AS ANY PARENT WOULD. IT WAS 95% JACK PUTTING PRESSURE ON HIMSELF BECAUSE HE WANTED TO BE AS GOOD AS HIS DAD AND MAKE HIM PROUD (OF COURSE WHEN JACK DID START PLAYING HOCKEY BOB DID ENCOURAGE HIM TO BE BETTER THAN EVERYONE ELSE. EVEN HIMSELF) BOB WOULD'VE BEEN PERFECTLY HAPPY IF JACK HADN'T TAKEN UP HOCKEY, PROBABLY EVEN HAPPIER BC BOB KNEW THE BAD SIDE OF PLAYING HOCKEY
WHEN JACK OVERDOSED BOB WAS DISTRAUGHT BC HE DIDN'T KNOW HOW MUCH PRESSURE JACK HAD BEEN PUTTING ON HIMSELF AND IT CAME OUT OF LEFT FIELD TO HIM tl;dr DON'T YOU DARE INSULT BOB ZIMMERMANN IN FRONT OF ME ;P
OKAY SO I HAVE A LOT OF FEELINGS ABOUT THIS AND I KIND OF AGREE WITH YOU BUT I ALSO KIND OF DONT SO SORRY FIGHT ME U NERD GET READY FOR LENGTHY HEADCANON
alright so bob zimermann was not a bad father, he was a flawed father who tried v hard he just didn’t necessarily do so great to start out with
bob zimmermann was so full of hockey love that he enrolled jack in the local hocky for littluns bc parents always enrol their kids in extra curriculars and well apparenly the zimmermanns are a hockey kind of family. and that was fine and jack had fun etc etc no problems there he grew up playing hockey and that was cool
but then once he started playing minor leagues (ngozi says at age 12-15?) he was kind of revered by other players bc 1. he was super good and 2. holy shit that’s big bob’s kid, which was when he became aware of this whole hockey legacy thing going on. like, before bob was just his dad and he was good at hokcey but ehhh no big deal, right? and now it’s all oh shit my dad’s actually super super good and he won the stanley cup at 23 and the hero worship starts and jack starts putting presssure on himself to be just as good as his dad bc all his teamamtes and coaches etc are doing the same, after all he’s only big freaking bob’s kid so he starts realising that everyone expects big things from him and the pressure’s building and
by the time he’s playing for QMJHL bob’s seen jack’s potential and he thinks he could really make it in NHL so he’s pushing him pretty hard bc that’s what his coaches and mentors did to him and it worked didn’t it? bob thinks he’s doing the best for his son but jack’s terrified of not living up to everyone’s expectations (inc. his own - he has a bad case of the idolising the father complex and needing perfection in everything, he’s definitely already predisposed to anxiety) and the pressure gets stepped up because he’s playing games that matter now, and he spends basically 70% of his time terrified he’s going to let everyone down and 30% of the time beating himself up for being so weak and not just getting on with it
and here’s the thing: jack’s doing this to himself, but it would be easier if his dad wasn’t always talking about the glory days and the stanley cup and encouraging him so much bc that’s just adding to the pressure to perform, even though bob’s not meaning for it to do that, he just likes talking about hockey a lot and he wants to motivate his son be the best that he can be, bc what parent wouldn’t want that?
so when it all came to a head and jack overdosed bob was distraught bc he had no idea what was happeneing but he still unknowingly contributed to it and jack being in rehab etc made him take a step back and realise that maybe he had pushed jack furthur than his coaches had and maybe that wasn’t the best ove and he felt so so shit about it and he’s tried to change and just tell jack to be happy with what he’s doing but its too little too late and jack’s still riddled with doubt and he hates that he’s disappointed his father, even though bob isn’t disappointed at all, he’s sick to his stomach about the whole thing, and he can’t help wondering if none of this would have happened if he’d let jack decide that he wanted to play hockey when he was like 7-8 instead of enrolling him as soon as he was old enough to start skating.
so now bob tries to be supportive bc he knows jack still has issues but he’s coflicted bc he still sees the potential in jack and knows that jack wants to ‘redeem’ himself and play for NHL so sometimes he crosses from ‘supportive father’ into ‘hockey coach’ mode breifly and he realises after bc jack’s posture always changes when he does it, he stands up straighter he speaks more formally he gets tense, and bob feels shit about it bc people change and he is not and never was a bad person but he’s never been great at words so he’s not really able to explain all of this guilt to his son so they both go on frustrated with each other and kind of unable to move past the overdose and the substace abuse bc neither of them are fab at talking about feelings and OH GOD WHY DOES MY BRAIN MAKE ME THINK ABOUT THESE PAINFUL THINGS IN SO MUCH DETAILS WHY
bob zimmermann isn’t a bad dad, he never really did anything more than any other slightly pushy parent might do, he’s a flawed dad, but that’s doesn’t mean the things he did didn’t affect jack and make jack’s life harder and i’m not sure jack (or i) can ever really forgive him fully for that
