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Keith Tkachuk talks to his sons, Matthew and Brady, every day.
Every day. It has been so forever, seemingly, a mark of the bond between the long-time NHL player and his two current NHL star sons.
Until this week.
As soon as Matthew and Brady connected in Montreal with the rest of their USA teammates, it appears that they conspired to make their father just a bit crazy by jointly ignoring his texts.
In a family known as some of the great button-pushers in the game of hockey, the brothers have been in fine form right from the get-go, both on and off the ice.
“That is a true story,” the boys’ mother, Chantal, confirmed. “I think the boys got here on Sunday, and I don't think Keith heard from them maybe till Wednesday, and he was, like, losing his mind, and I think it then became just a joke that, like, they were purposely icing him just to have fun.”
Keith Tkachuk feigns annoyance at the boys’ ghosting prank and he does invoke a couple of comments that are best left on the editing room floor.
But this is all for show. The reality is that this ranks as one of the proudest moments in a life full of proud moments for one of hockey’s most prominent families.
Even after all these years and after all the accomplishments of both boys, Keith admits he’s not just a hockey dad but a dad who still likes to impart a little hockey wisdom in the form of tips or constructive criticism.
“Of course. I'm not going to lie to you. Yeah, I do,” he said with a laugh. “But this is a little different this time and it's funny because I talk to them every day. Because we have that relationship, they call me or I call them. I called them the last couple days when they were together. Yep. Didn't even answer my phone calls. Didn't do it. They were icing me out, and I know it was Matthew saying, ‘let's ice dad out.’ And I'm telling you, and I heard from somebody else's dad that that happened.”
This is a moment to be savored by the entire family – the boys’ younger sister, Taryn, is with the family following the 4 Nations Face-Off competition as it moves from Montreal to Boston where the Americans have already secured a spot in the final Thursday night versus Canada.
For the first time ever, his boys, Brady, the captain of the Ottawa Senators, and Matthew, a leader and core member of the Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers, are playing on the same team.
Not only that, but early in USA’s first game against Finland, head coach Mike Sullivan put the boys on the same line, playing the wings with Jack Eichel in the middle.
“When they got to play that first shift together, it actually was quite emotional. It was really, really exciting as a mom to see them out there together, and really, Keith and I are just pinching ourselves that they're doing this right now together. It's just so cool,” Chantal added.
The results paid immediate dividends as the boys combined for four goals and Matthew added an assist in a dominating 6-1 win over Finland.
Then, as though the boys weren’t content with their initial impact on the first best-on-best tournament in almost a decade, the brothers combined for one of the most dramatic starts in international best-on-best hockey history as Matthew fought Brandon Hagel two seconds into Saturday’s highly-anticipated clash with Canada and moments later Brady tangled with the tough as nails, Sam Bennett.
The boys received a rousing stick-tapping ovation from their teammates when they returned to the U.S. bench.
“You have to set the tone and when you have the Tkachuk brothers on your team, it’s just built for them,” explained U.S. forward J.T. Miller, who completed the trifecta of early-game fights against Canada by dropping the gloves with Colton Parayko on the next stoppage after Brady’s fight.
U.S.A. would go on to defeat Canada 3-1 and set the stage for the first important American win at the NHL level since 1996 when a rising young group of U.S. players, including Keith, knocked off a star-laden Canadian team in the best-of-three final of the 1996 World Cup of Hockey.
“Other than Game 7 last year, this has been the highlight of my hockey career,” Matthew said after the win over Canada, a reference, of course to Florida’s nail-biting Game 7 win over Edmonton in the Stanley Cup Final last June.
It makes you wonder what the odds are that such a thing could happen.
The NHL is full of brother acts. And there is no shortage of stories of sons who have followed their fathers’ footsteps into pro hockey.
But it is a rarity, a statistical anomaly if you will, that a father with a storied NHL career like Keith Tkachuk sees two sons grow up to be elite NHL players on their own.
And then take it a step further. For both brothers to be so highly regarded that general manager Bill Guerin, who played with Keith on that ’96 team, selected both brothers to represent the U.S. in this first best-on-best tournament in almost a decade.
Chantal recalled those early, early days in the journey to this moment when Matthew was just starting to play hockey and she was helping him lace up his skates, and Brady, less than two years Matthew’s junior, was crawling all over, while Taryn was in a baby seat nearby.
“And I would try to get the eyes of one of the other dads, and they would come and take over for me while Keith was traveling,” Chantal said with a laugh.
“Time goes so fast, right? I wouldn't say it feels like a million years ago. I mean, certainly there's times it feels like yesterday, and then there's other times it feels like eons ago,” she added.
And actually, there was a time when the boys played together. Sort of. She figures they were four and six.
Matthew’s mini-mite team was playing, “and I vaguely remember we threw Brady out there with his team, and it was all about trying to help Brady score a goal, because he was the little kid on the team, and everybody was just trying to get the puck to Brady so he could score a goal. It was super cute.”
“So, yeah, it's amazing, you think of those memories, and to think now they're together representing their country is a huge, huge thrill,” Chantal added.
That the boys have been inseparable from the get-go – Chantal describes them as always being sort of a “package deal, you got one, you got the other” – does not suggest their relationship wasn’t without rancor.
“You have to remember, Brady's got a little temper,” Keith explained.
Whether it was street hockey or shooting hoops or roller hockey, they were always playing together. It’s just that sometimes it didn’t always end with hugs and hot chocolate or lemonade.
“Some of those ended when one of them came running in by getting chased by the other one, but it was usually Brady chasing Matthew in. Brady has the shorter fuse of the two. Yeah, he does,” Keith recalled.
“But the funny thing is, Brady has the biggest heart in our family. What you see on the ice is what you don't see off the ice,” added Keith who continues to scout for the St. Louis Blues. “And that’s with both of them.”
Matthew joked after the Finland game that when he looked up to see both he and Brady grinding out space in front of the Finnish net, he just shook his head. Where else would they be? When the two got back to the bench they began to laugh at the moment.
For some, it might be trite to say they are best friends with a sibling, a cliché or a throw-away line. For the Tkachuk brothers, there is something so genuine that you don’t dare doubt the veracity of the comments.
“I don’t really think it’s hit yet to be honest with you,” Brady said. “I can only imagine how proud my parents, family and friends [are]. I know from my experience, after a couple days, this has been the best experience of my hockey life. I can’t really describe the excitement and joy. Just to be able to play with him, be together every day. It’s been amazing.”
The reality is that their affection for each other, their obvious bond, is contagious within the U.S. locker room.
“Oh no, they're hysterical. I've known them for a while now,” offered Charlie McAvoy of the Boston Bruins.
McAvoy played with Matthew at the National Team Development Program and Brady was often around the periphery even though he was younger. McAvoy’s sisters were close with Taryn and the Tkachuks had a summer place in Cape Cod that McAvoy and a group of NTDP players would descend on for a reunion.
“Together, the two of them, they're inseparable,” McAvoy said. “They're hysterical together.”
“I mean the same way that we all like dreamt of this, dreamt of being a part of something like this, like a best-on-best, I mean hell, those guys probably have like a sliver of like, imagine we got to do it together, like are you kidding me?” McAvoy added.
“The fact that they both made it to the highest level and now like an extension of that to another level together is just so, it's just incredible really,” McAvoy said. “Like you want to talk about defying the odds just to make it to the NHL and then you make it here. It's just so cool and the Tkachuks are like the best family. They're so salt of the earth and honestly it couldn't really happen to better people.”
Noah Hanifin has known the family since the boys were all youngsters, and in fact, Keith once coached a summer team that Hanifin and Matthew played on.
“I think both guys are such heart and soul players, and they play the game so hard. With the amount of talent both of them have, they are just such competitors. And I think for me, knowing them as long as I have, I expected that to be revealed in a tournament like this on a big stage,” Hanifin said. “I know they're so excited just to play together too. Even seeing them before the tournament, the lead-up, hanging out with them. They're so fired up to get on the ice together and play together. It's pretty cool being on a team with them and being a part of it all and knowing how important it is to their parents, seeing their two sons out there competing with each other, representing their country. It's pretty special.”
As for having Keith as a coach, the one thing that sticks out for Hanifin was the teeth. Or lack thereof.
“It was when he was, like, at the end of his career, and he had just lost all his teeth. So, he had a hard time talking and yelling at us because he had no teeth from his last year, but he was awesome,” Hanifin recalled.
There is still work to be done in this tournament, of course.
And heaven help the Tkachuk boys if they don’t win and they’ve iced out their dad.
“If they lose, I'm going to be calling them all the time, giving them [a hard time],” Keith said with a laugh.
But if they win?
“That's fine. I can live with that. I'll wait until the tournament's over,” to get his calls received, he said.
