He Hit Me First!
Matthew Tkachuk whacking his brother Brady below the belt is good old-fashioned family fun
Both Matthew and Brady Tkachuk, sons of legendary NHL defenseman Keith, are very good at getting under the opposition's skin. Only on rare occasions do fans get to see the brothers play against each other, with Brady in the Eastern Conference on the Ottawa Senators and Matthew in the Western on the Calgary Flames.
Thursday night was one of those instances, with the Sens in Calgary for their first game since January 1. Brady and Matthew, who have likely been butting heads their entire lives, butted heads on the ice at the Saddledome Thursday night. After a scramble near the Ottawa net, Brady gave his brother a nice shove that sent him flailing down, to which Matthew responded with a stick whack directly to the crotch. Good, clean family fun right there:
After seeing the effortlessness of this literal stick to the ... you know, one has to wonder if this was a weekly occurrence in the Tkachuk household. The difference here is, on the ice, mom is not around to put either of them in timeout, and the foolproof "he hit me first!!" doesn't fly with the referees.
Brady got the last laugh on Thursday, as the Senators claimed a 4-1 victory. Matthew did find the back of the net in the third period, though. We'll say Matthew won the battle, but Brady won the war.