OTTAWA — The hug in the hallway was heartfelt, the respect overflowing.
In a quiet moment between two brothers, Matthew and Brady Tkachuk embraced outside their dressing rooms, sharing words only the duo were meant to hear. Minutes earlier, the final buzzer had gone on their very first NHL meeting with one another.
Brady ended up with a goal and Matthew got the win, as he has so many times before as the older sibling. They stayed true to the pre-game pact mom made them shake on — no fighting.
In fact, outside of a nifty shift in which Brady dangled brilliantly with Matthew giving chase, the two rarely interacted.
On the final shift of a game won in the final minute by the visiting Flames, the brothers skated by one another at the horn, with no words or looks exchanged.
Clearly sullen by the loss, 19-year-old Brady was the last off the ice for the Senators, skating over towards the two suites that held 40 friends and family members wearing jerseys with both boys’ names.
Instead of acknowledging the group that had more than a few tears in their eyes when he scored earlier, he went over to a small fan holding a sign informing Brady it was his seventh birthday.
He gave the youngster his stick, prompting a beautiful flow of tears from a boy who’ll never forget this night.
He wasn’t alone in that vein.
“It worked out perfectly,” said their dad, Keith, amidst a sea of hugs and picture-taking with his sons and the family gathering after the game. “At one point there I had to keep myself composed.”
That point came early on when Matthew scored to put the Flames up 2-0, prompting an explosion of celebration from the family. However, the goal was reviewed and disallowed as it was ruled Tkachuk swatted the rebound in as it was being covered by the glove of Craig Anderson.
It set the stage for Brady’s game-tying beauty midway through the night, punctuating a breakaway deke he deftly slipped through the legs of David Rittich with a gesture to his family.
Just like Matthew did earlier.
“I saw Matthew give them a point and knew if I scored, I wanted to let them know,” said Brady, of his 14th. “I was pretty excited. It was a special moment. I let the excitement get the best of me there.”
That energy was felt throughout the crowd of about 11,000 at the opening draw when both left wingers were told they would be facing off against one another. The crowd roared it approval as Brady easily pulled it back to his defenceman.
“It was pretty special,” said Brady, whose last-place Senators played without his early-season landlord, Mark Stone, who will likely be traded Monday.
”I was trying to figure out if Matthew let me win that or he was trying to go forward with it. All I know is that I snapped it back, so it felt pretty good. It was also cool that the fans loved it too.”
Their mother, Chantal, said she was nervous before the game for fear it would be a blowout.
Instead, it wasn’t until the final minute when Austin Czarnik broke a 1-1 tie with his fourth goal in his last five games, which includes his third game-winner. Half a period earlier, the Senators had a power-play goal called back, as Bobby Ryan’s rebound was deemed similarly illegal due to goaltender interference.
The Flames have now won five in a row to maintain their three-point lead in the west. So, who got bragging rights?
“I’ll let him take this one tonight,” said Matthew, 21, graciously. “It was a crazy night. I’m happy for my brother, what a sick goal that was. I’m happy we got the win and I’m happy for my family. So thankful they could all be here.”
At a large family reunion of sorts organized by Chantal the night before, Keith wanted to set one basic ground rule.
“(Dad) actually came up with the (pact) — he said, ‘Shake hands so a lot of people would see and say no fighting,’” said Brady. “He’s the one who organized that. It was pretty funny.”
How long was the pact for?
“To be honest I hope it’s a lifetime because I never want to do it,” laughed the rookie, drafted fourth overall last summer. “We’ll see. I know it’s a one-game pact but we’ll see if we extend it after tonight.”
They didn’t even shove, but as ultra-competitive youngsters, the reality was there would have to be a winner and a loser.
“Growing up, especially when we were young, he was so much bigger than I was — he won everything and he’d beat me up,” said the 6-foot-3 Brady, before the game. “But the tides have turned. He knows not to mess with me any more. Now it’s just competing in different things, even when we train together. Who can outwork who, who will do the extra work. We’ll always compete in that aspect. We’ll shoot some pucks, play some basketball when we go home for Christmas. Still pretty competitive.”
Even sister Taryn got in on the act, appearing in a live Jumbotron contest during a TV timeout called Sibling Rivalry. Holding a picture of each brother, she was asked trivia about the two, answering every one correctly.
Matthew said before the game he has rarely lost to his baby bro.
“As of late he’s got a couple on me but I went on a long winning streak in just about everything,” he smiled. “There’s nothing worse than losing to your brother — especially when you’re supposed to win. Growing up when you’re the older brother, you have to win.
“I never took it easy on him, so I’d like to take a little credit for where’s he’s gone in his hockey career. Maybe I motivated him a little bit.”
Quite likely.
“He’s my role model and I look up to him and learned as much as I can from him,” said Brady.
That much was clear as they walked arm in arm out towards their family members to celebrate a night they’d dreamed of for years with the people who matter the most.
[relatedlinks]