Brady Tkachuk opens up about life in Canada: Its a persons dream to get that spotlight

OTTAWA — It’s 4 p.m. on a Monday afternoon, and two dozen elementary and middle school children have not lost an ounce of energy from a full day in the classroom. 

A chaotic scene is unfolding inside the gymnasium at the Don McGahan Clubhouse in the east end of the city. Every type of ball you can imagine — foam ones, basketballs, footballs and soccer balls — is flying around the space simultaneously.

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In the middle of this sea of mayhem is a towering figure who seems to be having more fun than any of the children.

Wearing a green sweatshirt and standing at six-foot-four, Brady Tkachuk is easy to pick out of this crowd. Tkachuk is holding a football in his right hand and is poised to throw it to a group of three boys standing 50 feet away. 

Tkachuk’s voice booms out louder than all the noise raging inside the gymnasium. 

“Who wants it?” Tkachuk yells.

It’s a phrase you may have seen Tkachuk scream before, albeit in a far different setting. And delivered with a far different tone.

It was on February 27 at Canadian Tire Centre and in the middle of a heated showdown against Detroit that Tkachuk challenged the entire Red Wings bench. Television cameras clearly caught Tkachuk skating toward the Red Wings bench, putting his arms up and screaming, “Who wants it? Who (expletive) wants it?”

The way Tkachuk phrases the same question to the middle school boys, of course, is markedly different. 

It’s playful and fun. His words are infused with a youthful exuberance. 

“Those kids battling over the football, it takes me back to my childhood,” Tkachuk says afterward. 

As Tkachuk tosses a tight spiral in their direction, the three boys leap for the ball at the same time. In their eagerness to catch a pass from an NHL superstar, the boys crash into each other and the football bounces to the floor. 

The two vastly different usages of “Who wants it?” paint a perfect picture of the duality of Tkachuk. On one hand, he is a fierce competitor whose frustration can boil over in the heat of competition. But there is a softer, more gentle side to the Senators captain when he makes one of his regular drop-ins to BGC Ottawa. 

“We always say he has a switch that he flips,” says Tkachuk’s wife, Emma. “Once he gets on the ice, he’s a different person. When he’s off the ice? He’s the most fun, genuine and caring person on the planet. He’s just able to turn it on and off whenever he wants. It’s a great asset to have.”

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“I don’t know what happens mentally, but I do change when I’m on the ice,” adds Tkachuk. “I just want to win that badly. I want to do whatever it takes.”

On this day, Tkachuk’s trademark competitive fire is not raging. After spending 30 minutes inside the hot and sticky gymnasium, he steps outside into the hallway to engage a boy in a game of air hockey. They decide the first person to score five goals will be declared the winner. Tkachuk takes a 4-2 lead on the child, with his fourth goal a complete accident. At that point he backs off, allowing three unanswered goals. 

The boy — who is blissfully unaware of Tkachuk’s generosity — pumps his fist in celebration, believing he has legitimately defeated an NHL player in a head-to-head competition. 

While Tkachuk is busy playing with the kids, Emma is in the kitchen. She is serving out bowls of rice and ground beef to a steady stream of children. Emma diligently asks the children about their allergies, offers them a side of mild hot sauce for flavouring and a tiny chocolate bar for dessert. 

For some of these kids, it will be the only hot meal they eat on this day. And that was one the main catalysts for the Tkachuks — who are in the third year of a contract that will pay Brady $57.5 million — to get involved with BGC Ottawa. They wanted to use their clout and influence to help a local organization. Later this season, Brady is planning on helping support BGC Ottawa by lending his name to a specialty menu item available at Senators home games. As part of a “Tkachuk Captains” program, fans will be able to purchase a personally curated “Brady Burger” at Canadian Tire Centre, with proceeds going through the Senators Community Foundation back to BGC Ottawa.

But they didn’t want this to simply be a PR move, where they showed up for glitzy fundraising galas or only lent their name to a menu item at the concession stand. Brady and Emma try and visit one of the BGC clubhouses every few weeks during the hockey season, rolling up their sleeves and engaging directly with the kids. 

“Coming here to Ottawa, I was trying to find my niche and where I fit in,” explains Emma. “And this is perfect for me. I love nutrition. I love art. Wherever they can use me, I’m happy to help.”

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“It brings me back to when I was a kid and looking up to role models,” adds Tkachuk. “I just want to be someone that kids look up to. I want to be the best version of myself.”

Brady and Emma have a good chuckle about their origin story as a couple.  They met during Brady’s only season playing hockey at Boston University in 2017-18. 

“Our first date was in the dining hall,” Brady laughs. “It was really romantic.”

Emma adds her own mischievous detail to that first encounter.

“I think I might have swiped us both in,” she says.

“Hey, times were tough in college,” Brady jokes. 

Their second date was a little more traditional, at T. Anthony’s pizzeria located across the street from campus. After a few conversations, Brady and Emma realized how many close personal connections they already had. Emma’s brother John was playing prep school hockey, while her cousin Ryan Donato was in the NHL.

“We figured it all out after we met, but it’s kind of crazy how we never ran into each other before,” says Brady. “We just knew a lot of the same people.”

The couple became inseparable on the campus of Boston University, but a few months after that first dining hall date, Brady was drafted by the Ottawa Senators. In August of 2018, he signed an entry-level contract with the team and suddenly, the young American couple was thrust into an unfamiliar Canadian market. 

“The biggest thing I noticed when I got here is there is no CVS or Walgreens,” says Emma. 

Brady says that even though his mom, Chantal, is Canadian — from Winnipeg — the biggest adjustment he found was when he entered people’s homes in Canada. 

“Biggest thing for me was the shoes off in the house,” says Tkachuk. “Oh yeah, and bagged milk. That was a big difference.”

Five years after their arrival, the young Americans have adapted to life in Ottawa and have started embracing many of those Canadian customs (although they have not converted to bagged milk). 

“If I’m being honest now, I like Shoppers (Drug Mart) better than CVS or Walgreens,” says Emma. 

When visitors come to the Tkachuk’s home in the trendy Westboro neighbourhood in Ottawa, they now abide by the long-standing, unwritten Canadian rule. 

“Everybody takes their shoes off when they come to our house,” says Emma. “And now Brady wears Crocs wherever we go, so he can kick them right off if we go to someone’s house.”

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With Brady the face of the Senators franchise, there is an insatiable appetite to know about every aspect of his personal life. Emma says that while most fans associate “Mr. Brightside” with her husband, they would be surprised by the depth of his musical taste.

“Honestly, his playlist is an emotional roller coaster,” says Emma. “One song is super upbeat. Then the next one is slow. You don’t know where it’s going.”

Brady takes a moment to explain what a sample of his playlist sounds like. 

“I might start with some Zach Bryan. But then you’re going to get ‘Rise’ by Katy Perry. Then you’ll hear The Lumineers. Now some ‘Rich Girl’ from Hall and Oates. And then maybe ‘Landslide,'” says Tkachuk. “It does go everywhere.”

Brady, meanwhile, says Emma’s passion for music goes beyond simply listening to songs. 

“She’s one of the best singers I’ve ever heard in my life,” he says. 

He recalls that Emma knocked a karaoke version of “Lost Boy” out of the park on his 21st birthday. 

“Everybody in my family has talked about that ever since,” Tkachuk says. 

When Brady and Emma got married this past summer, fans pored over the pictures and analyzed every aspect of the ceremony on social media. 

“I wouldn’t say it’s weird, but I remember seeing pics of our guest list and where people were seated on Twitter,” says Brady. “It was more funny than uncomfortable.”

The Tkachuks are now one of Ottawa’s most recognizable couples in public, with Brady’s face plastered all over the city in various marketing campaigns. But when they go out for dinners, Brady and Emma don’t shy away from the spotlight by seeking the refuge of a private dining room. 

“We don’t go for private tables and seclude ourselves. I just happen to play a sport people enjoy watching. That’s it. So we love being right in the middle of the action because we’re part of this community,” says Brady. “And nobody has ever come over in the middle of dinner and interrupted us. I don’t think anybody has ever said a single thing negatively to us in public. And that just speaks to the respectfulness in this community.” 

In a fishbowl environment, where every move you make and every quote you deliver will be analyzed and scrutinized, Brady says he embraces that type of pressure. He could play in a quieter market with less attention, but he legitimately appreciates the focus given to hockey on this side of the border. 

“It’s pretty cool being young in Canada. It’s a person’s dream to get that spotlight,” says Brady. “I can feel the excitement for this team everywhere I go in the city.”

There is of course, a double-edged sword with the spotlight and attention in a hockey-crazed market like Ottawa. And earlier this month, things spilled over on the negative side of the ledger. 

On the heels of a 6-4 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning — in which the crowd openly chanted for head coach D.J. Smith to lose his job — Tkachuk had a moment of anger during his session with reporters. 

“It’s frustrating — the negativity from the outside. The constant booing and the bulls— from the crowd tonight, too. I understand they’re a passionate fan base. I understand, I love it,” Tkachuk said on November 4. “But when you’re facing adversity, you don’t turn your back on the guys out there. I mean, we’re playing hard. It’s not like we’re giving up out there.”

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The quote touched off a firestorm of controversy, with some wondering if the pressure of playing in a Canadian market was finally getting the young captain to crack in Ottawa. 

But judging Tkachuk’s words in the aftermath of a crippling loss is probably unfair. Athletes can often be emotional and frustrated after losses, prompting them to use negative language that is uncharacteristic of their true feelings. 

In a far less stressful environment — standing outside the Don McGahan Clubhouse — Brady and Emma give a more accurate window into their feelings on playing and living in Ottawa. This conversation, it should be noted, takes place five days before the emotional loss against Tampa. 

“This place has felt like home since day one. Everyone in this city — from the fans, (to) the organization — they’ve made us feel like family. It almost feels like we’ve been part of this community for our whole lives,” explains Brady. “So whenever I step on that ice, I don’t ever want to disappoint anybody. I want to be my best for somebody who has paid money to come see us.”

“It hasn’t been an adjustment to living here because everybody has just welcomed us with open arms,” adds Emma. “When we got here, all the pieces just fell into place. It just felt natural.”

The underlying fear from some Ottawa fans is that Brady will follow the same path as his older brother Matthew, who eschewed the pressure of a Canadian city in Calgary for the warmer climate in South Florida. And in his first season with the Panthers, Matthew thrived with a career-high 109 points. He was a Hart Trophy finalist, his Panthers reached the Stanley Cup Final and Matthew became a household name across the United States. 

And Brady concedes that watching his older brother have playoff success has left him with a degree of jealousy. 

“Seeing what Matthew did this past year, that’s been a motivation for me,” says Brady. “Absolutely it has.”

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But he has no interest in fleeing Ottawa for a safer, less hockey-centric market haven in the United States. Tkachuk has integrated himself into the community in a manner similar to Daniel Alfredsson, the longest-serving captain in franchise history.

Tkachuk admits he’s taken the time to go back and watch those great moments in franchise history — like Alfredsson putting the team into the Stanley Cup Final in 2007 — to see how the playoff environment feels in Ottawa.

“It’s a motivation for sure. You look back at old videos of past playoff runs in Ottawa. We all want to provide to this city. We want to feel that energy and excitement,” says Brady. “I know it will happen one day. And I’ll be counting down the days.”

Emma has witnessed the toll that missing the playoffs every season has taken on her husband. She has watched as this young core featuring the likes of Josh Norris, Tim Stützle and Thomas Chabot has fallen short of tasting the fruits of a playoff run in Ottawa. 

“Knowing how passionate he and this whole team is, it would just be so exciting to see them get there,” Emma says. “Being along for the ride would be so cool to see. This group has been wanting this for so long. So the sooner the better, for everybody.”

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(Top photos: André Ringuette / NHLI via Getty Images; Andre Ringuette / Freestyle Photography / Ottawa Senators Hockey Club)

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