At the start of last season Taylor and Travis Sanheim found themselves in unfamiliar territory. The fraternal twins from Elkhorn, Man., were on different hockey teams for the first time in their lives. Taylor was with the Dauphin Kings of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League and Travis was suiting up for the WHL’s Calgary Hitmen.
It was an adjustment. “You look for each other on the ice all the time,” says Taylor. “Last year was different not having him on the ice.”
Taylor, a forward, was traded to the Portage Terriers during the season while Travis, a defenceman, turned in a stellar rookie year in Calgary and was drafted 17th overall by the Philadelphia Flyers last June. This season, the brothers have been reunited with the Hitmen. In their first game back together, they led Calgary to a 9–2 win over the Lethbridge Hurricanes.
Travis scored first in that game, midway through the first period, but Taylor didn’t wait long to match his brother—scoring less than two minutes later. Travis would add a second goal later in the period and Taylor would pick up an assist to cap off the twins’ special night. “It was really exciting,” Taylor says of the game. “I didn’t even notice it until after the game, how close the goals were.”
Back in Elkhorn, Shelly and Kent Sanheim watched from their living room. The year before had been hard trying to support both of their sons, who were playing hockey 1,000 kilometres apart. “We were on the road a lot,” Shelly says. “There were lots of nights we’d do two-, three-hour drives. I had to work in the morning so there were lots of nights we’d turn right around and get home at one in the morning, try to go to work the next day.”
Not only were the logistics hard, but having one brother achieve success before the other can be difficult. Shelly and Kent say the brothers remained supportive of each other and were each other’s biggest fans. “I thought about that every day,” Travis says. “You’re playing against guys and my brother’s sitting at home playing in the Manitoba Junior League and you know he’s better than those guys.”
Elkhorn is a small town of about 500 people which–according to Taylor–consists of not much more than a local ice rink, a grocery store and a couple of restaurants. The boys grew up along with their two older sisters on the family’s 1,500 acre–farm and were always into sports. “They were always competitive with each other but in a good way,” says Shelly. “They always drove each other to be better.”
The competitiveness carried over into rooting allegiances as well. Travis liked the Penguins while Taylor supported the Senators, which made some interesting times during the playoffs. “I used to give him a hard time for liking Crosby,” Taylor says. “Now I think he’s a Philly fan since he was drafted by them.”
Neither brother’s path to the WHL was guaranteed. Travis was selected by Calgary in the 9th round of the 2011 Bantam Draft and Taylor went undrafted but was listed by the Everett Silvertips. Everett traded him to Brandon before the start of last year but he was unable to crack the Wheat Kings roster.
Shelly tried to remind him to stay positive and keep working hard. “I remember telling Taylor that it doesn’t matter whether you’re teammates or brothers or best friends, no two people take the same path in life and each will have to carve out your own path,” she says.
Taylor says as much as he’d love to have played in the WHL last year, having to go back turned out to be a blessing in disguise. “Probably the best thing to happen to me last year was to not make the WHL and go back to junior A,” he says. “I got stronger and now I’m here in Calgary.”
The brothers spoke almost every day last year and constantly checked up on each other’s progress. Travis’s season started taking off and he rose up draft boards before finally being selected by the Flyers. In Philadelphia for the draft, Taylor was right by his side. “Just to share the experience was a great day,” Travis says of the draft. “To have him there, standing up when I heard my name called, it was a great feeling to give him a hug. Only thing better would be to have his name called as well.”
Travis says Taylor plays a more physical type of game while he prefers more of a finesse game. With Travis on defence and his brother forward, they’ve had to go up against each other quite a bit in practice. “There have been some battles,” Travis says. “I’d like to say I win most one-on-one, being able to contain him, but he plays a grittier style of play so there’s a couple of times where he really finishes his checks on me.”
There are not a lot of twins playing hockey on the same teams. The most obvious example is that of Henrik and Daniel. “I feel like we know where each other are on the ice like the Sedins,” Travis says. “Especially when we make those plays that others might not have, not knowing where the guy is.”
Former NHLer Sheldon Kennedy is the biggest name to come out of Elkhorn but that may soon change—Travis recently signed a contract with Philadelphia. The town held a draft party last spring and Kent says he’s often stopped by people asking how the boys are doing. As enthusiastic as the residents of Elkhorn are, none are as happy as Shelly and Kent. “To come from a small town of about 500 and what they’ve accomplished, what they’ve both been able to succeed at, we’re pretty proud,” says Shelly.