Ottawa’s Artem Anisimov and Calgary’s Elias Lindholm were set for the opening faceoff of Saturday night’s game at Ottawa’s Canadian Tire Centre. Referee Wes McCauley had other ideas.
He tossed both centers from the faceoff circle, sending in brothers Matthew and Brady Tkachuk to take the game’s opening puck drop.
“If I’m reffing, you guys have got to do the opening draw,” McCauley reportedly told Matthew Tkachuk. “Your mom will love it.”
When the veteran referee saw the siblings weren’t lined up at center, he took action.
“I don’t know what he said. I was just kind of shocked because it wasn’t planned,” said Brady. “It was pretty cool, a pretty neat experience for dad to see for sure.”
For the record, Matthew won the draw.
Brady responded with a crosscheck to his brother’s back.
This isn’t the first time the two brothers have faced-off against each other in the NHL. The siblings squared off for the opening puck drop – from referee Francis Charron – in their first game against each other, back in February 2019.
