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Brad and Jeff Marchand are turning the Boston Bruins’ current road trip into a bit of a family comedy tour.
The brothers from Hammonds Plains delighted the media in Boston on Monday when they took good-hearted jabs at each other and told stories about their childhood. It’s all part of a Bruins siblings trip to games in Dallas and Nashville, which started with Brad introducing Jeff to reporters as “my smoke show of a brother.”
“He’s big into poetry,” Jeff then told reporters when asked to share something personal about his older brother. “Loves poetry, Shakespeare, reading, writing. He’s in poetry clubs.”
Even though one media member still felt it necessary to double-check the truth of the statement, both brothers had a good laugh at the image of Brad as a literature enthusiast away from the rink. The Bruins winger is famously one of the most rambunctious players in the NHL and it’s no secret around Nova Scotia Jeff is cut from the same cloth.
He accumulated 566 penalty minutes in 155 games during his four years in the Maritime Junior A Hockey League and then kept agitating opponents during four seasons at Saint Mary’s University. Now 33, he doesn’t play anymore because Brad said “He got kicked out of all of his beer leagues.”
“We were best friends, always,” Jeff said. “In the younger days we would battle all the time. He would toughen me up and I would toughen him up. We’d fight like brothers but I remember the day he moved away to play hockey it was a pretty hard day for the whole family and it was my best friend moving away. I’ve always been a big supporter of him. Growing up with him was awesome. From day one we’ve been best friends.”
Because the brothers are only one year apart, they usually played on the same minor hockey teams. Jeff likes to tell the story of how their father Kevin – who Brad once described as a ‘goon’ when he played – only had one rule for his boys.
“Nobody was allowed to touch me except for (Brad),” Jeff said. “If I got hit by anybody, he was the first person out there and he would run them through the boards. He would always protect me. Then we’d get home and he’d beat me up himself.”
Brad said Jeff was the more naturally skilled player as kids: “He had the hands, I had to develop them.” He also gives his younger brother credit for one his best dekes.
“He’s the one who taught me the five-hole move, actually,” Brad said. “It was summer hockey. One time we were playing and he kept doing it. I had never even thought of it before. So he showed me the technique. Now I’ve got it down.”
Brad said the two are still best friends and spend every day together during the off-season in Nova Scotia with their growing families. He also recounted a tale or two about some of the typical hijinks they got up to in their younger days.
“We had a few dirt bikes and four-wheelers growing up and there was a sand pit that a bunch of guys made into a dirt bike track,” Brad said. “It was a long ways back and we were with our dad one day. (I was) 12 years old and we found it and he made sure we promised him we’d never go back there without him. Sure enough the next day us and some buddies went back there and we just wanted to watch the guys on the track, except for Jeff.
“We were looking at this one jump and then we just see this little boy go flying off the hill and doesn’t he break his foot. It was maybe the first week of summer so he spent the whole summer on crutches and posted up on the couch. Dad sold all the bikes and the four-wheelers the next day. He wasn’t too happy. We had a lot of stories like that and we had a lot of fun. And they’re still coming.”
But in a moment of seriousness, both gushed about the time together this week with the Bruins.
“It’s a very special time,” Brad said. “A lot of teams do parents trips but this is a little unique and a great opportunity for them to see behind the scenes and see what we go through on the day to day, so it’s a been a lot of fun already and really looking forward to the week.”
“This will be different to get to know his team and what they do on the road and spend that one-on-one time and see some different cities and atmospheres,” Jeff said. “It’s been really cool and it’s just getting started.”
