The top highlight for Matthew and Brady Tkachuk at the 4 Nations Face-Off was getting to share the ice as teammates. But a close second was getting to share a penalty box.
The two brothers made headlines when they and teammate J.T. Miller got into three fights in the first nine seconds of a game against Canada. Matthew opened the game with a fight against Brandon Hagel, Brady then followed it by taking on Sam Bennett. And Miller dropped the gloves with Colton Parayko.
Now, in an interview with Jason and Travis Kelce on The New Heights podcast, the Tkachuk brothers revealed what was said as they sat in the box after those bouts.
"Watching Brady was legit the most proud I've ever been," Matthew began. "It was so surreal, just awesome."
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"It was a highlight, it was a highlight," Brady added. "We were just talking about the fight, how awesome it was. And then Millsy came in and just the same thing, we were just like, 'Oh my God, that just happened, this is awesome. Now let's go win the game. Let's go make it meaningful and win the game.' It was unbelievable."
"It's like two kids talking," Matthew said. "'How was my fight?' 'Oh, it was great. What about mine?' 'It was unreal.' You guys know what it's like, when we're with each other, we're two little kids together having fun. So that's what it felt like in the box, it was the best."
The United States went on to win the game 3-1 and nearly beat Canada in the final again before falling 3-2 in overtime. Regardless of the results, Matthew said the goal of the fights was to show teammates and fans that Team USA was a united group.
"At the end of the day, a fight is a fight, you're going there to beat the other guy up," Matthew said. "But I think it was more than that, it was more to show your teammates: We got this, we're together in this. We all come from different parts of the country, different backgrounds, different teams. We're in this and we're going to fight together."
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