After Sidney Crosby wrapped up his congratulatory phone call to Liam and Markus Ruck, with the identical twins getting drafted by Pittsburgh, he got an excited text from his friend and former teammate Chuck Kobasew.
Kobasew, who played for the Penguins organization during the 2013-14 season, is a family friend of the Rucks, having grown up with their dad, Derek, in Osoyoos, British Columbia.
“They've been best friends forever,” Liam said. “We get to see Chuck every year, every two years or so. Just hearing the stories of his career and everything he went through, it helps us out. He's a pretty happy, easygoing guy, and he’s a guy we like to learn from.”
Like Liam and Markus, Derek and Chuck played youth hockey locally, side-by-side, with complementary styles.
“His dad, their grandpa, actually coached us a little bit,” Kobasew said. “We were linemates all the way up until he went to the WHL (with the Lethbridge Hurricanes) and I went to Tier II junior because I wanted to play college. He was a passing center. I was more of a shooter, so I played the wing.”
Chuck and Derek were virtually inseparable off the ice as well, being from a place where “you can go from one side of town to the other in like, five minutes,” Kobasew said.
“We went to school together. Graduating class of like 30 people, so we were together all the time. Played baseball, basketball, all the school sports – whatever we did, pretty much our hockey group did it together.”
Chuck and Derek were the best man in each other’s weddings, and as they started families, they would all get together in the summer.
“We'd see him probably every summer for like, a week,” Markus said. “He was just like a dad. A competitive dad. He wouldn't let us off easy. He’d play anything with us.”
Chuck laughed thinking back on all the hours of ministicks when the boys were little, as Liam and Markus had so much passion for hockey right from the start.
“I remember it was like, nonstop,” Kobasew said.
At that point, Kobasew was still playing professionally. So sometimes, Liam and Markus would join him on the ice.
“Derek sent me a photo the other day, and it's me with the boys. We were skating. I don't even know how old they are here, but they're probably, like, 5 years old,” Kobasew said. “Their smiles were much cuter back then, I give them a hard time.”
When the twins were born in 2008, Kobasew was with the Boston Bruins organization. He then spent time with the Colorado Avalanche and Minnesota Wild before landing in Pittsburgh.
“It was always cool watching his journey,” said Liam, who added that they have a couple of Kobasew jerseys at home. “But they're definitely too small to fit now,” he laughed. “Maybe we could squeeze into them!”
Kobasew’s NHL career came to a close in the same spot that Liam and Markus hope to begin theirs.
Kobasew had reported to Pittsburgh’s training camp in the fall of 2013 on a professional tryout contract, as he had some connections within the Penguins organization.
Kobasew won an NCAA national championship with Boston College alongside Brooks Orpik and Rob Scuderi. And Kobasew had become friends with Crosby while attending the summer conditioning sessions in Vail, Colorado hosted by the captain’s longtime trainer, Andy O’Brien.
“Got an opportunity in camp to come in there and compete, make the team, which was awesome,” said Kobasew.
He scored two goals in his first three games, one of the hottest starts by a new addition in recent history, only eclipsed by Justin Brazeau this past season. Unfortunately, Kobasew got hurt soon after that, with an injury he’d never experienced before. “I really didn't recover,” he said.
Eventually, Kobasew was placed on waivers and reported to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League.
“I actually really enjoyed it there. I got to play with (Bryan) Rust and (Matt) Murray and (Conor) Sheary and (Brian) Dumoulin and all those young guys, and they were brand new, right? So, a lot of great memories,” Kobasew said. “I wish I would have had better fortunes with some things there, but I have no regrets at all.”
After that, Kobasew played a couple of years overseas in Switzerland before hanging up the skates and relocating with his family to Arizona, where they’ve been living ever since. When the Kobasews went back home to British Columbia, they would sometimes stay with the Rucks, or vice versa. While Chuck isn’t as dialed into hockey as he used to be, since he coaches his daughters in their sports, he’s kept tabs on the twins.
“I've followed them all the way through,” Kobasew said. “I get updates all the time.”
To Kobasew, what makes the Ruck twins so special is that they’ve played with their best friend their entire lives.
“You know where each other is, you know what they're thinking,” Kobasew said. “I don't want to compare them to the Sedins because that's an unfair expectation. But the Sedins were very, very tough to play against because they just knew each other so well. So, that's a huge piece to their identity. But they're different players. One's more of a shooter than the other, and so, they complement each other very well.”
It also helps that the boys don’t seem to have ever had a bad day.
“They always got smiles on their faces. They're always having a great time,” Kobasew said. “I mean, there's going to be challenges along the way, but they always have somebody to sit there and bounce things off of, right? It’s just a pretty unique situation. But once they got to juniors, and as 16-year-olds, they started having some success, I'm like, these kids have an opportunity to do something special."
Crosby has already mentioned the possibility of Kobasew coming to town for another training camp – this time, to watch Liam and Markus on the ice as Penguins.
“I'm gonna try to get out there,” Kobasew said. “Sid was asking me about it, so I'll see what the schedules all look like and come out there when I can. And I'll definitely be out there at some point to watch them.
"Again, you don't want to put crazy expectations on them, but they know they've got things that they're going to continue to work on, and just be excited to watch them grow.”
