Talent - Is it in the Genes?

Washington Capital's forward Chris Bourque, son of legendary hockey Hall of Famer Ray Bourque, contributed a power play goal in yesterday's defeat of his dad's former team, the Boston Bruins. This gritty player has definitely been making a case for a spot on the Capital's roster with goals in his last two pre-season games.

Which leads HM to wonder - is athletic talent in the genes of some of the lucky ones? The NHL and its history is full of brother and dad/son combos: the Sedin twins, the Staals, the Hossas, the Neidermayers, the Espositos, the Hulls and of course Mr. Hockey, Gordie Howe, who played with his two sons.

Speaking of brothers, one of my twins pulled quite a stunt in yesterday's game. His brother got put into the penalty box for roughing (okay, so the kid pushed him first - yeah right, that's what they always say). So the other one decides to skate behind the referee following his brother all the way to the box - lipping off to the ref about why his brother was going into the box to begin with. All the other parents were like "Oh, that's so cute; he's sticking up for his brother." Hockey Mom in the meantime was mortified and shouted "Son, you'd better skate your skinny butt over to that bench and zip it RIGHT NOW" - or something to that effect. I would've put him in the box with bro if I were the ref - just to prove a point. It's an interesting dynamic - this twin thing. When they first started playing coaches would put them on the same line and all they did was kill each other for the puck.

Now they've finally grasped the idea that this is a team sport and have mastered the concept of passing to each other and that you get credit for assists too!

So since we can't really conduct any lab experience to determine whether or not athletic ability is in the genes of certain families, we'll just sit back and enjoy all the siblings playing in today's NHL and hope that Caps fans are able to see more of Chris Bourque!