(Robert L Note: This piece was originally posted at EOTP on June 20, 2007, and is being revived due to the arrival of Sergei Kostitsyn, brother of Andrei, with the Canadiens for tonights game in Philadelphia. The Kostitsyn brothers are not the 13th pair of brother to suit up for the Habs, as claimed by Habs Inside Out, but rather the 15th such occurrance. This post also took in relations other than siblings, including fathers and sons, uncles, and nephews, inside and outside the Canadiens realm. It was interesting research and makes for a revealing and fun read. Discover and enjoy!)
Tuesday at work (No, this ain't my real job, folks) I was talking Canadiens prospects with a co-worker when the future brother act of Andrei and Sergei Kostitsyn came up. My friend knew some about Andrei, liking what he'd seen of him so far, but knew nothing of Sergei.
After rattling off the junior exploits of the younger Sergei, and stating that it is not farfetched to think the younger longshot pick could turn out to be the better of the two, my co-worker got me on a Habs trivia question.
Well he kinda got me! I was stumped for the answer, because it was wrong.
He asked me which two brothers played together for the Canadiens, a defenseman and a forward, who wore numbers 3 and 5?
Immediately, like a reflex, I said, "The Cleghorns, Sprague and Odie, back in the 1920's!"
"Huh!", came the reply! "Nope, that's not it!"
"Well I know, I think, one of the Cleghorns wore one of those numbers and one was a defenseman, the other a forward."
"Maybe. Never heard of them. But that's not who I had in mind", said my friend.
My wheels were spinning now, trying to remember all the brother combos who'd played for Montreal, both together and at separate times.
"Ever heard of Moe Robinson?", I asked.
"Geez, if ya can remember dat one...."
After thinking of about 7 pairs of brothers, scratching my brain hard, I came to the conclusion...
"Okay, I give up, who am I forgetting?"
Shaking his head, buddy says, "Can't believe you don't remember Gilles and J.C. Tremblay!"
"Not brothers. Don't think so, at least. You're wrong there!"
Without getting into an argument, I simply said that I remember hearing a question about them being brothers at one time, but that I was quite certain it was a popular but false assumption.
"I'll check it out, and get back to you on it."
I was taught young by my father, not to argue when you know you're right, and never lay bets when there's doubt. I never lost a buck thinking that way!
Tomorrow, I was thinking, "I'm putting money down on it !"
The worse case scenario will be that I'd be proven wrong, and end up with one interesting post.
As I started researching the all time Habs Brothers, I found information quite easily. I started at the Habs official site, looking up common surnames on the all time roster before googling the term "NHL Hockey Siblings".
I found all I needed to find in both searches, almost!
Another old credo father taught me (way before the days of internet misinformation) was don't believe everything you read, and that includes here, folks.
Sprague Cleghorn
Odie Cleghorn
So far, Gilles and Jean Claude aren't even distant cousins, nevermind brothers.
Both the Habs official site and the Wiki link had ommisions. That's the nature of the beast, simply put!
Wiki started out promising and insightful. I urge everyone to check out this most informative page for every type of hockey relation possible, from fathers and sons, to distant cousins. It's a great read.
There are many occasions where brothers played with the Canadiens, both together and separately. At the top of the Wiki page, this statement whet my appetite for the information contained below.
"Perhaps because of their longevity in the league, the Montreal Canadiens have seen the most familial connections with 20: fourteen brother pairs (actually only 11 were listed), two father / son combinations, one grandfather / grandson combo, one uncle / nephew pair, one set (actually there are 2) of brothers in law, and one combination of father in law and son in law."
"Wow, I thought, this is interesting!"
Billy Boucher
The 14 brother pairs, not counting the Kostitsyn's, are:
Georges and Pierre Vezina (not listed)
Cleghorn, Sprague and Odie
Aurel, Rene Joliat (not listed)
Boucher, Billy and Bobby
Mantha, Georges and Sylvio
Pit, Hector Lepine* (not listed)
Richard, Maurice and Henri
Reardon, Kenny and Terry
McCreary, Keith and Bill
Mahovlich, Pete and Frank
Robinson, Larry, Moe*
Lemieux, Claude and Jocelyn
Lebeau, Stephan and Patrick
Turgeon, Sylvain and Pierre*
Wiki makes no mention whether the Rousseau's, Guy, Rolland, and Bobby* are in fact brothers or not,
Maurice Richard
Henri Richard
Of course, soon to be included hopefully are the Kostitsyn's, Andrei and Sergei, for a total of 14 Habs brothers. The names with an asterisk, are brothers who did not play together.
The father and son pairs are:
Bouchard, Butch and Pierre
Geoffrion, Bernie and Danny
Kenny Reardon
Terry Reardon
The grandfather and grandson:
Howie Morenz and Danny Geoffrion
The father in law / son in law combo:
Howie Morenz and Bernie Geoffrion
The uncle and nephew pairs:
Larry Hillman and nephew Brian Savage
Christian and Sebastien Bordeleau
Emile Bouchard
Pierre Bouchard
Cousins:
Claude Pronovost and Andre Pronovost
In - laws:
Howie Morenz and son in law Bernie Geoffrion
Mark Napier and brother in law Pat Hughes
Shayne Corson and brother in law Darcy Tucker
Other Montreal Canadiens players with a sibling, in law, or cousin in the league at one time or another, who were never teammates, on the Wiki list is lengthy. It's often a case of "Wish we had the other brother!"
There are likely some ommissions here as well.
Pete Mahovlich
Frank Mahovlich
The Montreal Canadien is named first, followed by the relative.
Boucher, Billy and Bob were brothers of Frank and Buck
Bordeleau, Paulin, brothers of Christian and J. P.
Broderick, Len, and Ken
Bure, Valeri and Pavel
Courtnall, Russ and Geoff
Dionne, Gilbert and Marcel
Dryden, Ken and Dave
Esposito, Tony and Phil
Fillion, Robert and Marcel
Flockart, Ron and Rob
Hillman, Larry and bothers Wayne and Floyd
Hossa, Marcel and Marian
Hunter, Mark and brothers Dave (drafted but never played for Habs) and Dale
Gardner, Dave and Paul
Koivu, Saku and Mikko
Kordic, John and Dan
Lefley, Chuck and Bryan
Linden, Trevor and Jamie
Odelein, Lyle and Selmar
Pronovost, Claude and brothers Marcel and Jean
Redmond, Mickey and Dick
Roberge, Mario and Serge
Roy, Patrick and Stephane
Shannon, Darryl and Darrin
Wilson, Murray and Doug
Larry Robinson
Moe (Where's Curly?) Robinson
Fathers and sons:
Arnason, Chuck and son Tyler
Bordeleau, Sebastien and father Paulin
Chouinard, Eric and father Guy
Cote, Jean-Philippe and father Alain
Gainey, Bob and Steve
Gardner, Dave and father Cal
Goldup, Glenn and father Hank
Laperierre, Jacques and son Daniel
Larose, Claude and son Guy
McCreary, Bill Sr. and Bill Jr.
Vachon, Rogie and son Nick
Wilson, Rick and son Landon
Stephane Lebeau
Patrick Lebeau
Uncles and nephews:
Sebastien Bordeleau and uncles Christian and J.P.
Randy Bucyk and uncle Johnny Bucyk
Manny Fernandez and uncle Jacques Lemaire (his former coach)
Keith McCreary and nephew Bill McCreary Jr.
Brian Savage and uncles Wayne, Floyd, and Larry Hillman
Bob Perreault
Gilbert Perreault
Cousins:
Chris Chelios and Nikos Tselios
Eric Chouinard and Marc Chouinard
Dale Hoganson and Paul Hoganson
Doug Jarvis and Wes Jarvis
Bob Perreault and Gilbert Perreault
Mickey Redmond and Craig Redmond
Randy Rota and Darcy Rota
Scott Thornton and Joe Thornton
Perry Turnbull and Randy Turnbull
Darcy Tucker
In - laws:
Guy Carbonneau and son in law Brendan Morrow
Dan Geoffrion and brother in law Hartland Monahan
The Wiki link has information sidebars on most of the players named. Save the page as a favorite and dazzle your best buddy with some of these trivial delights.
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