MILAN — It’s the Tkachuks’ world.
The rest of the U.S. athletes inside the Olympic Village are just living in it.
When Matthew and Brady aren’t filming with Snoop Dogg or yapping it up with Elmo, they also play hockey — and find a way to go viral with antics on the ice, too.
During Sunday’s convincing 5-1 win over Germany, Matthew was caught on a hot mic firing an insult toward captain Leon Draisaitl, while Brady was seen gabbing right behind his big brother.
“Always the bridesmaid, eh, Leon? Always the bridesmaid, never the bride,” Tkachuk said in a chirp picked up by NBC.
The moment quickly made the rounds on social media.
“They’re every bit as entertaining as you guys would think — and unbelievable team guys. It’s a blast,” teammate Dylan Larkin said postgame at Milano Santagiulia Arena.
“You got to see that at 4 Nations. And now this group is special. It’s fun to be out there with them, and you almost don’t want it to end. So, you got to keep going, keep playing for each other, to keep having fun.”
Matthew smiled when informed his dig at Draisaitl, whose Edmonton Oilers have lost to Tkachuk’s Florida Panthers in the past two Stanley Cup finals, was making the rounds.
“Some guys you got to play harder than most, physically and maybe after the whistle sometimes, too,” Tkachuk said.
“But I thought our line, I thought [centre Jack Eichel] especially, did an unbelievable job of giving him and their line nothing tonight. So, sometimes you gotta play both parts of the game. But, I thought, mainly, Eichs did a great job during the whistle of playing him hard. That was something talked about going in, that we got to be hard on him, and [Tim Stützle], some of these guys over here, some high-end talent. Thought we did a great job.”
Draisaitl was held off the scoresheet, thanks, in part, to the Tkachuks.
“They’re so effective in the game. Even when they’re not scoring or getting on the score sheet, they’re affecting the game in different ways,” defenceman Zach Werenski said. “They’re tilting the ice in our favour. And they’re always talking, they’re always positive, they’re always getting guys going.”
