Everything had to line up perfectly for Jack Hughes to get to New York City in time for “Saturday Night Live.”
But sure enough, when the lights went up in the historic Studio 8H at Rockefeller Center on Saturday, there was Jack, and his brother Quinn Hughes, ready to make their SNL debuts.
The brothers — wearing Team USA jerseys and their newly minted Olympic gold medals — joined host Connor Storrie on stage during his monologue, along with two members of the gold-medal winning women’s team, Hilary Knight and Megan Keller, also rocking their new bling.
“You get there and you’re just meeting people and you’re really just pumped to be a part of it and get it going,” Jack Hughes told NHL.com. “The buzz there is unbelievable.”
Just four hours before Jack was scheduled to be on stage, he was nearly 1,000 miles away from Rockefeller Center — at Enterprise Center in St. Louis — where the New Jersey Devils were playing the St. Louis Blues. The game ended at 7:33 p.m. ET, and “Saturday Night Live” starts at 11:30 p.m. ET on the dot.
So, the minute the final buzzer rang, Jack rushed out of the arena and got a police escort to a small private airport in St. Louis, where he hopped on a private plane to race to New York.
Once they landed in the Big Apple, Jack and his group transferred to a private helicopter, which took them into Manhattan, where they were met with another police escort to get them to the studio.
“They went beast mode for me getting us back to New York,” Jack said.
He made it in time, and the Hughes brothers became the first NHL players on the show since Brett Hull made an appearance in 2004. Wayne Gretzky also hosted an episode in 1989.
The last-minute entrance meant Jack missed the dress rehearsal and had to learn the show on the fly. While Jack was racing in from St. Louis, Quinn got to enjoy the pregame environment at the studio.
“Seeing how they operate and all the behind-the-scenes, that was pretty cool,” Quinn Hughes said. “Just meeting the cast and doing all that and just practicing, we really enjoyed it.
“And it was fun to do it with Hilary and Megan,” he added. “And I think they feel the same way. They were a little bit nervous, just like us, and we kind of just relied on each other and just did it and it was awesome. It was a great night.”
Quinn admitted that while he felt a bit nervous about being on live TV, it felt different than the typical nerves of a hockey game.
“We’re just so appreciative that SNL wanted us to be a part of it and you just wanted to make sure you represented them well and did your best,” he said.
Jack, on the other hand, had such a whirlwind of an evening that he didn’t even have the chance to be nervous.
That is, up until he hit the stage.
“Right when it was about time to walk up on stage, I got crazy nervous,” Jack said. “Me and Hilary were laughing about that. But once we got going, you’re into the swing of things. Just walking up the stage is when I was like, ‘OK, I can’t be messing this up.’”
The cameo went off without a hitch, and the Hughes brothers went back to their regularly scheduled programming. For a few days, at least.