BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Born eight minutes earlier than his twin brother Liam, Marcus Ruck is fine with ceding NHL draft bragging rights.
All that mattered to Ruck on Saturday was being selected with the 39th pick in the second round by Pittsburgh in following his brother, who was drafted 22nd overall by the Penguins a day earlier.
“He can brag to me all he wants. I’m just so happy to be with him. I know he won’t brag, but if he wanted to, he could,” Ruck
said. “To be with him, it’s so special.”
The twins are from Osoyoos, British Columbia, and spent the past two-plus seasons as one of the Western Hockey League’s most productive tandems in Medicine Hat. Marcus led the WHL with 108 points last season, while Liam, a right wing, finished second with 104 points.
Liam was projected to go first, and when the Penguins chose him, Markus began looking ahead to No. 39, Pittsburgh’s next turn to pick.
“I didn’t have a preference of when, I just knew where I wanted to go and who I wanted be with,” he said, noting his brother kept his spirits up overnight. “He kept me calm and told me it was going to happen. So for it to happen it’s awesome.”
The Ruck’s reunion was part of a family theme in a draft that had Caleb Malhotra going third to Vancouver, where his dad was just hired as the Canucks head coach.
The Calgary Flames opened the third round by selecting WHL Vancouver forward Joe Iginla. He’s the youngest son of Hall of Famer and longtime Flames star Jarome Iginla, and his selection came after older brother Tij went No. 6 to Utah in the 2024 draft.
Whatever doubts Brooks Rogowski had in choosing hockey over baseball quickly evaporated following the first pick in the second round of the NHL draft.
The 18-year-old from Livonia, Michigan, had taken his seat with his family on the draft floor, when NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly announced Rogowski had been selected at No. 33 by the Vancouver Canucks.
“You sit down for five minutes and you’re standing back up. So that was nice not having to sit a while,” Rogowski said. “But the relief was immediate. You hear your name called and all the stresses just kind of fall off you. It’s great, it’s been awesome.”
And the selection validates the choice the 6-foot-7, 235-pound Rogowski made two years ago. In picking hockey, after being drafted by the OHL Oshawa Generals, he put baseball behind him — and to the regret of his father and uncle, who both enjoyed minor-league baseball careers.
His father, Casey, was drafted by the Chicago White Sox and his uncle, Ryan, drafted by the Dodgers.
“Obviously they’re still sad about baseball, but I think this was the right decision,” Rogowski said. “You know, get to wear a nice jersey, so I think that they’re more than happy with that.”
Rogowski has made a commitment to play at Michigan State in two years, and appreciates he still has plenty of room to develop after focusing more on baseball than hockey growing up.
“I have a lot more to improve,” he said. “You have a lot of these guys who have been doing this for a long time. I’m still relatively new to it, and I think there’s a lot more to me that needs to come out.”
His trajectory is pointing up. As a rookie, Rogowski had 11 goals and 23 points in 66 games with Oshawa, and built on that with 42 points (15 goals) in 46 games last season.
Not bad for the former first baseman.
“Exactly. It’s very different,” Rogowski said comparing the two sports. “I have always been a decent hockey player, but I think the rapid growth, I can attribute to athletic ability.”
A day after pop icon Justin Bieber took the stage to announce the Toronto Maple Leafs taking Penn State forward Gavin McKenna with the No. 1 pick, there were several notable highlights over the final six rounds on Saturday.
The second round featured just 31 selections with the Vegas Golden Knights forfeiting their 63rd pick after being sanctioned by the league for violating media regulations. Former Vegas coach John Tortorella was also fined $100,000 for refusing to speak to reporters following a second-round-series-clinching Game 6 victory at Anaheim.
Another notable selection came at No. 40, when the Florida Panthers used their first pick of the draft on right winger Simas Ignatavicius. Though born in Memphis, he relocated with his family to their native Lithuania, a nation that by his count has four hockey rinks.
Though his father played basketball, Ignatavicius was drawn to hockey at age 3 while watching a practice at a rink inside a shopping mall. Six years ago, the 18-year-old moved to Switzerland to develop his skills.
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