Brotherly love in the air when Leafs and Flyers meet
Luke Schenn promised his mother that he would take it easy on younger brother Brayden when the Toronto Maple Leafs play the Philadelphia Flyers in an exhibition game on Tuesday.
Toronto Phil Kessel did not make a similar promise in regards to his younger sibling Blake, who recently signed with Philadelphia. Not that it should be a problem.
“I don’t think I’ll be hitting,” laughed Phil. “I don’t hit much in the regular season, so I’m pretty sure I won’t be touching him out there.”
“The bad part is Phil’s brother is a lot bigger than he is,” said Leafs head coach Ron Wilson. “So I don’t think he’s going to start a scrap. burberry outlet cheap On the other hand, Luke is bigger than his brother, so it should be interesting to see what happens.”
Luke and Brayden Schenn have played each only other once before, when both were in the Western Hockey League. There were no fights. But Luke said he did leave Brayden “on his butt” with a hit.
Though both players are physical, Luke said fans should not expect much rough stuff.
“She’s warned me a few times. She’s warned both of us,” Luke said of his mother. “There’s no fighting allowed or else we’ll have to deal with her.
“Like I said, it’s a pretty cool situation for our family. With him being traded to Philadelphia we’ll get to see each other more. It’s a dream come true to make it to the NHL. And it’s that much sweeter when your little brother gets a chance. So I’m very excited for him. Obviously, I’m his biggest fan.”
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Joe Colborne is fully aware that Nazem Kadri, his main competition at training camp, appears to have found instant chemistry with third-line forwards Tyler Bozak and Colby Armstrong. But Colborne said he is trying not to let it affect what he does on the ice.
“It definitely helps when you find chemistry like that,” said Colborne. “But right from Day 1, I said I’m not just going to focus on that one spot. I’m coming here trying to make the management and coaches’ decision as hard as possible to send me down.
“I want to make it very hard, so in the future if they do give that spot to Nazem, when injuries happen or trades happen or whatever, that I’m the guy.”
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James Reimer is in the process of getting a new paint job on his goalie mask. And while the popular goaltender would divulge the specifics of the design, he did hint that it was somewhat autobiographical.
“There’s a little more to the story,” he said, adding that the mask probably would not be ready for the start of the regular season. “We’ll see when it comes out. It will be fun. When it comes out, then I think everybody will understand.”
Reimer’s current mask features Hockey Night In Canada personalities Don Cherry and Ron MacLean, as well as a Transformers logo that pays homage to his “Optimus Reim” nickname.
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