OTTAWA — These will be the first Olympics for Brady and Matthew Tkachuk. Well, kind of.
The NHL star brothers were, in fact, in Torino 20 years ago. Brady was 6 and Matthew was 8, cheering on their father, Keith, who was playing in his fourth and final Olympics for Team USA.
Next month in Milan, the roles will be reversed.
“I’m pumped,” Keith Tkachuk, 53, told The Athletic on Thursday. “It’s kind of weird, looking back, and they were kids, and now I’m going to see them play in it. I don’t know what to say. It’s awesome. It really is.
“And for them to do it together, it’s not like you have one kid, but both kids are going to experience it. I remember them (in Torino) when they were all geared up in USA gear, painted faces.”
Matthew, now a winger and two-time-reigning Stanley Cup champion for the Florida Panthers, described it as the time of their lives.
“The coolest part of it all was one day off, my Dad — I don’t know if you can even do this anymore — but got two passes for me and my brother to go into the village, and he just took us around the whole village,” he recalled. “We buzzed around and just literally tried to take a picture with every single person we could that we knew of, whether it was hockey or … I remember we got one with Sasha Cohen, the figure skater.
“We have a really cool picture with Ovechkin and Malkin when they were like 19 or 20 years old. That’s still hung up in both of our rooms back in St. Louis. So I think that day is probably the thing I remember the most. I actually don’t even remember any of his games.”
Keith laughed at the memories, adding that he’s not going to paint his face in Milan.
“But I’m definitely going to enjoy this and have fun and enjoy seeing them play together and representing their country,” Keith said.
Growing up, the idea of being Olympic teammates wasn’t a spoken goal for Brady and Matthew as much as it was a shared vision in the back of their minds. Playing for a Stanley Cup, playing for Olympic gold — those were normal childhood fantasies. But playing together?
“I wouldn’t say it was much of a conversation,” Brady Tkachuk, now the Ottawa Senators captain, told The Athletic as part of a lengthy TV interview that aired on “The Athletic Show” on Amazon this weekend. “I mean, I think it just was a dream.”
That is, until the 4 Nations Face-Off in February 2025 — hockey’s first best-on-best international event since 2016. Matthew and Brady both represented the U.S., and Brady remembers before the event, thinking, “Holy cow. We’re actually going to be playing on the same team, represent the USA. How awesome is that?”
“Of course, playing growing up, you’re trying to score the game winner for the Stanley Cup, but right there, you’re going for the gold medal, as well, and especially around when the U.S. is playing, that narrative for the game-winning goal goes from Game 7 Stanley Cup to that OT winner in the gold medal game,” Brady added. “That’s always been a dream. And those goals you score in the driveway and the mini sticks, that’s for an event like the gold medal at the Olympics.”
Watching the boys as Team USA teammates at 4 Nations was surreal for parents Keith and Chantal Tkachuk.
“It was more just finally seeing them play together,” Keith said. “Which they always wanted to do and never had a chance to do since they were really small. Just to see how they interacted and being around each other and experiencing that together, that was more of a thrill than anything.”
Team Canada won 4 Nations, but the Tkachuk brothers owned the event. America couldn’t get enough of them, from the mayhem they helped stage to open the U.S.’s round-robin game against Canada to their post-tournament talk-show tour.
For a moment there, did they feel bigger than the Kardashians?
Brady laughed at that.
“There was just a lot more people tuning in, and I think that’s what made the final even more of an event and a big moment,” he said. “It was a whirlwind after, but I think at the end of the day, we didn’t accomplish what we wanted to, and I think it gives that much more fire — that much more drive to get it done in February.”
The number of people tuning in, of course, had something to do with how the tournament started, with three fights in the first nine seconds of U.S.-Canada at the Bell Centre in Montreal. The Tkachuk brothers revealed after the game that it was their idea, devised on a group chat earlier in the day.
Brady Tkachuk and Sam Bennett dropped the gloves to get the U.S.-Canada rivalry going at 4 Nations. (Minas Panagiotakis / Getty Images)
“We just kind of joked around about it, just like, ‘Oh, we’ve got to,’” Brady recalled. “Especially in the Bell Centre … we had (to) flip the table and just, I wouldn’t say cause chaos, but no, we’re Public Enemy No. 1 — our whole team. And we felt that even the days leading up to it that our whole team was going to be hated when we walked (into) that building. There wasn’t going to be any support and that all we had was each other. So that was kind of the mindset going into it, that we wanted to show everybody how much of a team that we were and how we were going to do whatever it takes.
“I was more nervous for Matthew’s fight than my fight. And I guess we both didn’t really realize the impact that moment and that game would’ve had for future things. … We were just solely focused on the moment and how we’re going to help our team get off to a good start.”
They did win that night but lost a week later in Boston in the championship game. Either way, the sport won.
“That hockey at 4 Nations was the best hockey I’ve ever seen live,” Keith said. “It was incredible how many talented players were there. (The championship game) could have gone either way. Unfortunately, we lost, but I think they’re going to have a great mindset going (into Milan). This could be anybody’s tournament. When you get into a one-game elimination, anybody can win.
“For them, and same for Canada, it’s gold or bust in my mind. … All the eyes will be watching. It’s a worldwide event. It’s a big stage. And I think it’s going to be fantastic.’’
The Olympic stage. Brady’s face lit up at the thought.
“To be able to say that you’re an Olympian — all that hard work as a kid paying off — that’ll be a dream come true right when we step on that ice,” he said. “But there’s going to be a main goal that we want to accomplish.”
A gold medal win in Milan would be the first Olympic championship for Team USA since the 1980 Miracle on Ice. It would also be the first best-on-best championship since Keith Tkachuk was part of a 1996 World Cup of Hockey win at the Bell Centre, which changed the game forever.
“It was a stepping stone, for sure, for USA Hockey go out there and win that tournament — especially being down one game in a best-of-three going into one of the most hostile places to play in Montreal,” Keith said. “I know what the 1980 Olympic team was for me, and I think that ’96 win was huge for a lot of these players, even if some weren’t born. Just the history. It was a huge step.
“That team was pretty special. Not only did we have talent, but we had toughness. And I think that’s something USA Hockey had never had. Although the rules are different in the Olympics, I think toughness goes a long way in terms of competing, and I think USA Hockey has that combination, which will give them a chance to succeed.”
Keith Tkachuk helped the U.S. win the World Cup of Hockey in 1996. (Al Bello / Getty Images)
Brady and Matthew are hockey history buffs. The ’96 World Cup win resonates for all kinds of reasons.
“Just look at the rosters of that ’96 World Cup,” Brady said. “Some of the best players to ever play the game. And I think it’s just super cool that the U.S. came on top with all the other rosters looking like that. So it’s definitely been a long time coming for the U.S., winning a best-on-best. And for us, it’s looking to change the tide and not have as long of a wait for the next one.”
The U.S.’s 1980 Miracle on Ice still resonates, as well.
How many times has Brady watched the movie “Miracle,” imagining himself on that stage?
“I don’t even think I could give you a number,” he said, smiling. “Even during 4 Nations, we were watching it.”
Brady’s had a chance in recent years to speak with Mike Eruzione, the captain of that U.S. team that knocked off the Soviet Union on its way to gold — picking his brain about the win and everything that went into it.
“I thought it was really cool that the hardest practice that they’ve ever had was the day after the Soviet game,” Brady said.
The U.S. still had to beat Finland two days after its win over the Soviets to clinch gold, and coach Herb Brooks “just wanted to skate the excitement out of ’em that so they’d just be focused on the next game,” Brady said. “And I think they’re down again in that Finland game, and Herb said that they’d take it to their grave if they didn’t win that game.
“What’s cool about that whole story is how big that Finland game the next day was, and how they’re able to still get the job done, and the rest is history.’’
The Tkachuk brothers want to give the U.S. another moment like that.
“We have an opportunity to grow the game even more than it already has in the U.S.,” Brady said. “It started with the 1980 Olympic team growing the game for the 1996 World Cup group, and then winning that, it grew the game even farther. And we have an opportunity to do that where a kid could be watching the Olympics and fall in love with hockey just by watching the success of our team.”
Regardless of the outcome, it will be a family affair, a lifetime in the making.
“It’s so incredible that we’re able to have this experience and have it together, and we just have to make it the best experience possible and ultimately finish the job and win it,” Matthew said. “I mean, I know my Dad played in four of them, but he would give up all four of those opportunities for us to win gold this year. So I mean, that’s the goal, and I know him and the whole family is just so excited.
“We’re champing at the bit. We’ve been talking about this ever since we both got named in June. So the fact that it’s like two weeks away, it doesn’t seem like it’s real how close it is.”