The Hughes Bowl Turned Out To Be A Much More Wholesome Event Than The Battle Of Tkachuk
Icon Sportswire. Getty Images.I don't know the exact number, but I'd have to imagine that no other major sport league in North America has more sets of brothers playing in it than the NHL. There's just something about hockey that makes it seem far more likely to have an entire family make it to the league than any other sport. My guess is access to ice time plays a huge role. If your family is spending enough time at the rink for one kid to develop into an NHL-caliber player, it gives the rest of the siblings more of a chance to get there as well.
There are so many sets of brothers in the NHL. There's gotta be at least 20 of them you could name off the top of your head even if you're just a casual NHL fan. But as far as star families go, it's the Hughes brothers and the Tkachuk brothers. 3 brothers for the Hughes family, 2 for the Tkachuks, all of them were top 10 picks in the NHL Draft. Brady Tkachuk wears the 'C' on his sweater for Ottawa, Matthew Tkachuk is a 100-point scorer and wears an 'A' for the Florida Panthers, Quinn Hughes wears the 'C' for Vancouver and could win a Norris this year, Jack Hughes was a 1st overall pick and wears an 'A' for the Devils, and Luke Hughes was a 4th overall pick who gets to play along with Jack for the Devils. They're the two biggest power families in the NHL right now, and we couldn't have more drastically opposite games from them when the brothers go out and play against each other.
Last week we had the Battle of Tkachuk. Matthew's Florida Panthers taking the trip up north to play against Brady's Ottawa Senators. It was a game that featured damn near 200 penalty minutes, 10 players getting kicked out of the game at once, multiple fights, and Matthew and Brady being right in the middle of it all.
Last night we had the first game featuring all 3 Hughes brothers and let's just say it was a much more wholesome affair.
Jack was the first one to get himself on the scoresheet last night with an assist to Erik Haula. But the party really got started later in the 1st period with this goal from Jack to make it a 3-1 game.
Wins the faceoff, goes to the net, buries one. Just a typical night in the office for Jack Hughes. Then the 2nd period rolls around and he decides he wants to get little brother involved out there.
Luke Hughes from Jack Hughes. 5-2 New Jersey right before the end of the 2nd period. You'd figure that would be a back breaker, but then the Devils shit their pants a little in the 3rd period. Quinn Hughes was sick and tired of this shit, and decided to go full big brother mode to bully New Jersey and pick up 2 assists on the way to tying the game up at 5.
Jesper Bratt ended up scoring the game winner for the Devils with about 30 seconds to go in the game for a 6-5 final. So we had 11 total goals scored in the game. 1 goal and 2 assists from Jack Hughes. 2 assists from Quinn Hughes. A goal from Luke Hughes. 6 total points on the night for the boys. And only 6 total penalties taken the entire game.
The Hughes brothers are the NHL's family that shows up to a holiday dinner in matching outfits. The Tkachuk brothers are the NHL's family that ends every holiday dinner early because they decided to wrestle in the living room and then someone got hurt. Both families are perfect in their own way.
P.S. -- All-time "as shit, I'm an idiot" moment from whatever reporter asked this question.