From bros to foes

ST. LOUIS — It was a wild moment in an epic playoff series that had no shortage of them.

Now, at long last, we can bring you the scoop on what exactly went down between Luke and Brayden Schenn last spring — a confrontation that escalated to the point officials had to step in.

Turns out the highly competitive brothers, who are otherwise best friends when they’re not trying to end each other’s seasons, were locked in a salty game of one-upmanship as the on-ice temperature soared.

With Luke’s Winnipeg Jets getting blown out by Brayden’s St. Louis Blues in Game 3 of their first-round matchup, a post-whistle scrum involving multiple players followed. Threats flew: Brayden promising to come after more of Luke’s teammates — something he’d already done plenty of, as Mark Scheifele would attest — and Luke vowing painful retribution in return.

Referees Kyle Rehman and Trevor Hanson had heard enough, sending Brayden to an early shower with a 10-minute misconduct. At that point, Luke delivered a memorable zinger: “What, are you our mother?”

The hostilities continued in Game 4, which was yet another blowout loss for Winnipeg that evened the best-of-seven series at 2-2. This time, it was Luke whose night ended early with a misconduct following another third-period brouhaha.

It was after those games that a text arrived from the most important official in their lives: their father, Jeff. The message essentially scolded both sons for their boorish behaviour and told them to dial it back a few notches.

Of course, none of this should surprise anyone familiar with the Schenn brothers. They’ve been pushing and competing with each other for years, all the way back to when an eight-year-old Brayden shot a rubber band at his big brother’s face, which prompted Luke to punch him back and break his own hand in the process.

“We don’t take these opportunities for granted.”

Beyond the occasional brutality lies a deep bond, one Luke, 36, reflected on Wednesday as he prepared to line up against Brayden, 34, once again, with slightly lower stakes this time around.

“We don’t take these opportunities for granted,” he told the Free Press.

“They don’t happen too often and they won’t happen forever. It’s exciting. We push each other throughout our whole lives and careers and talk pretty much every day. Check in with each other, see how each other is doing. Any time we get the chance to play against each other, it’s certainly special.”

It was a summer like no other for the Saskatchewan products, given what unfolded between their teams on May 4. Luke jokingly blamed their father, who told them before the series began that he didn’t care who won but hoped it would go to overtime in Game 7, and then “you can figure it out from there.”

File that under be careful what you wish for. The Blues were seconds away from advancing before Cole Perfetti pulled off the Manitoba Miracle by tying it in the dying seconds of the third, followed by captain Adam Lowry capping off the incredible comeback with the double-OT dagger.

“It was so emotional,” said Luke. “It was strange for sure, and we’ll look back at it as a crazy memory.”

The toughest part was cutting off communication for the two weeks they were going head-to-head. No, the few words they exchanged in the heat of the moment don’t count.

“Like we’re losing in St. Louis here and getting smoked, and the guy I would normally call for advice would be Brayden. It’s a strange feeling not being able to talk to the guy you literally talk to every day about hockey,” said Luke.

That’s never an issue during the regular season. Recent chatter between the brothers has instead centred on their shared struggles. Neither the Jets nor the Blues are where they’d hoped to be in the standings as they got set to meet for the first time this year.

“It’s a strange feeling not being able to talk to the guy you literally talk to every day about hockey.”

“There’s certainly been some adversity throughout the year for both teams. At the end of the day, I think the only thing we can fall back on is continuing to work and compete,” said Luke.

“That’s the only way to get out of it. There’s obviously a lot of pressure on both teams after what happened last year to do well. Saying that, it’s still early enough in the season you can get on a run and turn things around.”

Brayden, the Blues captain, knows that better than anyone. His club was dead last in the league at the Christmas break in 2019 before an incredible second-half surge all the way to the Stanley Cup.

Luke said he’s not sure that’s “the recipe” anyone wishes to follow, but it does provide hope that brighter days could be ahead. Of course, the Blues, who entered play Wednesday one point behind the Jets, are likely thinking the same thing.

Sounds like some more sibling rivalry could be on the horizon.

THE FULL MONTY

There’s no question the Blues had Wednesday’s date with the Jets circled on their calendar — but maybe not for the reasons you’d expect.

This was less about revenge for a heartbreaking Game 7 loss and more about a hopeful return to the “good old days” for a struggling group.

“Obviously we would have liked to have won Game 7, but more importantly we were playing a really good brand of hockey. I think for a lot of players it brings excitement to get back to that brand of hockey we can play. It brings back excitement of what a great series it was,” said Blues head coach Jim Montgomery.

“It was old school hockey. It was mean, it was hard, it was vicious. And in the end you had two teams that really competed and emptied the tank so much. The handshake line was what you want in Stanley Cup playoffs.”

Life moves fast in the NHL, and Montgomery was asked to reflect on how much has changed for Winnipeg and St. Louis. Both teams wouldn’t even qualify for the playoffs if the post-season started today, despite lofty expectations created by last year’s success.

“I don’t think anyone last year thought Winnipeg would be the Presidents’ (Trophy) winner. Maybe a wildcard team. Maybe third place. But definitely not win this really tough division. And I think this year, coming back, the expectations were they were going to try to get closer to the Stanley Cup. Not about qualifying for the playoffs,” said Montgomery.

“And the same thing has happened for us. We had that good run (last year) and a lot of people thought, ‘Well, this will be a playoff team.’ And that hasn’t transpired for us. Unfortunately, that breeds negativity. And I’m not talking externally. Who cares externally. Internally.”

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