He would work on his game, on the modifications the brothers would discuss.
"To not have those conversations anymore is kind of overwhelming," Jack Adams said Tuesday, a week after Mark died at the age of 27 on Sept. 18. "It's going to take a lot of time. I can't really sugarcoat it. But I think this will make my drive that much higher just to play every single shift and enjoy every moment. Because you never know how long you can play."
It was a message that came through after Mark Adams was forced to quit hockey after college, where the defenseman was a member of Providence College's 2015 NCAA Division I men's hockey championship team. It's a message that's even more poignant now.
Mark Adams was a star at Malden Catholic High School, the same school that produced Keith Tkachuk, and was selected in the fifth round (No. 133) of the 2009 NHL Draft by the Buffalo Sabres. Though he had an opportunity to sign with the Sabres after playing the 2009-10 season with Chicago of the United States Hockey League, according to his brother, Mark Adams opted to head to Providence.
It wasn't always easy at Providence, where Mark Adams worked through the injuries that eventually finished his hockey career, including blood clots in his knees. But he made sure to bolster those around him, even as he struggled to get on the ice.
"He was battling injuries through college and wasn't in the lineup necessarily, but he would always pull aside guys that weren't dressing and just be like, 'Hey, just take a step back, figure out what you need to do and everything will work out,'" Boston Bruins forward and former Providence teammate Noel Acciari said. "He's just that type of guy that comforted anyone that needed it."
That was a moment that Jack Adams, who was selected in the sixth round (No. 162) of the 2017 NHL Draft by the Red Wings, will never forget, watching his brother win the national title, especially after everything Mark had been through.
"It was surreal," Jack Adams said. "He went through so much adversity with the injuries he had. … To see him get rewarded like that at the biggest stage, in his home city, can't really put it into words. [I was] so proud of him."
Mark Adams spent five seasons at Providence, including a medical redshirt season, and played in 98 games. He scored two goals and had six assists, but his impact was far bigger than those numbers.
"He was everything to me," Jack Adams said. "He was an amazing human being, amazing athlete, amazing family man. He was an amazing older brother as well.
"And he was a [heck] of a hockey player. He got offered an NHL contract out of the USHL. He didn't make it because of his injuries, he didn't not make it because of his talent."
His life, Jack Adams said, was "hockey and family. Those were the biggest things."
Acciari was subdued talking about his friend in the TD Garden locker room Tuesday, the morning after a celebration of Mark Adams' life. This was the second Providence teammate that Acciari lost in the past year, after Drew Brown died Nov. 11, 2017, three years after being diagnosed with bone cancer.
"It's too soon," Acciari said. "Too many, too soon. You wouldn't think that in a year you would lose two of your close friends and teammates. But we had a saying, after we won, that we'll always walk together as champions. And I know now both of them are up there together."
