WASHINGTON Besides being proficient at the work they do

WASHINGTON Besides being proficient at the work they do, NHL trainers also need to be efficient. Timeline s is key when it comes to patching upa player'sbumps and bruisesand getting him in good enough shape to resumeregular shifts.It's a reality thatFlames forward Matthew Tkachuk knows all too well. The 20-year-old, now with two seasons of NHL experience to his resume, has shown a tendency to stick his nose in places where it could be compromised or worse,bloodied.Matthew's younger brother Brady has known these conditions to a le ser degree, but the ante will be upped when he makes the jump to the NHL. That could come as early as next season, after Brady was selected fourth overall by theSenators in the 2018 NHL Draft.Exceptit's nota concept unfamiliar to Brady at all. Rewind to their childhood, which included manynights spent in the wives'room of St. Louis'then-named Savvis Centerwhile dad Keith scored 143 goals for the Blues acro s parts of six seasons.NHL DRAFT 2018:|Brothers will be brothers, and hockey brothers will be even more brotherly. So during one of those nights Nik Needham Jersey , the Tkachuk boys started a two-on-two game with mini sticks, a regular occurrence for them. But on this particular night, a Tkachuk-on-Tkachuk crime Matthew checking Brady from behind launched younger brotherface-first into the couch. The metaphorical gloves were dropped.Twenty minutes later, Brady still dripping bloodas a consequenceof that illegal check, a Blues trainer was called into action to stitch up the gash."The wives were just hanging out, talking to one another," Brady said, because Tkachuk boys will be Tkachuk boys. "You just take it."Such was life for the Brady and Matthewgrowing up in St. Louis, punishing each other physically, Nat Moore Jersey pushing each other mentally, and chasing a hockey dream they lived vicariously through their father, a 500-goal scorer and a member of the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame.Those formative years, Brady said,helped mold a player the Senators are hoping can help revive .MORE:It wasn't just Matthew and dad Keith that Brady had to lean on, though. Their running mates and childhood po se included Clayton Keller, Luke Kunin, Logan Brown and Trent Frederic, a hyper-skilled group of aspiring youth players all born within 21 months of each other andall living in close proximity in Mi souri.They competed on many of the same teams, birthdays breaking them up into separate groups, and also touted an equally qualified coaching staff, spearheaded by a trio of former NHLers Keith Tkachuk, Jeff Brown (Logan's father) and Al MacInnis."We were fortunate enough to have some good teams growing up," Matthew said. "Enough to compete with teams from areas like Toronto, Michigan and Minnesota. Obviously when people think of St. Louis, hockey wasnt the first thing that comes to mind, but we produced a lot of great players in the past couple of years."The le sons they learned were perhaps subtle in the moment, but ingrained a new line of codeinto each player's hockey microproce sor, impre sing upon them the small things to do to become succe sful profe sional players.Keller, who scored 11 goals in the first 16 games of his rookie NHL season and finished third in Calder voting, can appreciate now what he learned so long ago Emmanuel Ogbah Jersey , a mentor like Keith Tkachuk to guide him during his own formative years.MORE:"He always told us to shoot somewhere other than high glove or high blocker," Keller said. "He wanted us to shoot to other areas of the net than that. We all kind of thought he was crazy at the time because everyone loved getting the puck off the ice."He was great and really helped our team and each player a lot."The Tkachuk boys taught each other plenty of le sons, too. They were wildly competitive, be it in the wive's room, the driveway or the Blues' locker room."It just allowed me to have somebody to play the sport with every single day, just be competitive in the house," Matthew said. "Were still competitive in anything we do."It extended throughout their entire friend group, a bunch of kids living in the Midwest who believed their hockey dreams could become reality, pushing each other to see who could score the most goals, who could finish first in a drill,who could be the best."It was a really special group," Keller said. "We were a really motivated group and always had good skill.We all knew each other really well, and all skated together, and were all really good friends. Its really special to see all of us get drafted and make our mark in the NHL."MORE Larnel Coleman Jersey :The competitivene s seeps through when watching Brady or Matthew play. They have a certain airabout their style, which some might choose to characterize with colorful, anatomical language. To players who embody that type of role, it's one of the highest forms of compliment."I wouldnt say hes a pest around the house, but hes an aggravator," Brady said, using another A-word todescribeMatthew. "Thats what our extended family calls him. Hes such a great guy, and were really close, so I kind oflove seeing it, because I like to be the same way."Keller knows the type."Brady gets under guys skin," he said. "Ive seen him do it when he was 14."Brady said Matthew is the better trash-talker. But Matthewsaid that after Brady was selected fourth two spots higher than the Flames took the older Tkachuk brother in the 2016 draft there was no pointing out that fact."I mean, if he gave me a hard time about it, I would come back with, I dont know, something," Matthew said. "But well see if he plays, soon, and then Tua Tagovailoa Hoodies Sweatshirts we can start talking."SN EXCLUSIVE:That brings up another question in Brady's development arch. He hasn't announced where he'll spend the 2018-19 season, and he's yet to sign an entry-level contract. Hecould return to Boston University for his freshman season. At 18 years old (19 in September), he could also spend the entire year in AHL Belleville and still see his entry-level contractslide to 2019-20 or play 10 or more games with Ottawa at the NHL level and burn that first year. There have also been rumors he could head to OHL London, where the Knights own his rights, especially after Brady's freshman-year coach, David Quinn, left Boston University to take the Rangers' head-coaching gig this summer."Ultimately its just his decision," Matthew said. "Everyone is kind of looking at me and my dad and hoping that we influence him a little bit, but its ultimately up to him."At Senators development camp, if Brady had any inkling of what sweater he would wear next season, he played it close to his chest, like, "Im going to take it day by day," and "Im going to take slow. There is no rush."Keller's amateur resume reads eerily similar to Brady's, from the minor midget teams in St. Louis,to two years with the U.S.Natio