5 Brothers Lead Brainerd Hockey To Best Season In Years
BRAINERD, Minn. (WCCO) -- The Brainerd boys hockey team is enjoying its best season in years.
The Warriors are undefeated in conference play and appear poised to make a run in the section tournament, and there are five very good reasons why.
Lee and Michelle Andres might be the most Minnesotan hockey parents you'll ever meet.
Stoically and often silently watching their sons play for Brainerd, there isn't much that moves their needle, carrying the been there done that before kind of attitude of someone who's seen a lot of hockey.
And for good reason.
"Well, there's always somebody out there to watch," Michelle said. "That's for sure."
Lee and Michelle have five boys – all on the same team.
"Well it's certainly unique," coach Dave Aus said.
Aus has been coaching high school hockey for nearly 20 years, and says he's never even heard of five brothers on the same team before, much less coached them. The most he could recall was three at a time.
"I usually go, 'Hey, Andres, get out there,'" he said. "And a lot of times five heads will turn."
Mitchell Andres is the oldest, a senior captain. Then there's Gavin, Riley and Wyatt – three sophomore triplets – followed by Westin, who made Varsity as a freshman to complete the quintet.
"I don't think anyone else has ever had this experience as us," Riley said. "It's really, it's just unreal."
Together, they are leading Brainerd to its best season in years. The Warriors are undefeated in conference play, and look poised to make a run in the section tournament.
"There's quite a bit of chirping that goes on, razzing each other," Mitchell said. "We get pretty loud. Pretty heated discussions sometimes. But it's pretty cool."
Hockey has always been the Andres family sport.
"Once we were able to kind of start walking," Mitchell said, "then we started playing."
"We have a rink outside at home and ever since they've been little, they would after dinner put their skates on and head out there," Michelle said.
And yeah you can only imagine what it's like to be a parent with five boys just three years apart.
"The worst thing is probably sticks, going through a couple a week." Mitchell said.
"How many have we broke? Six this week?" Riley asked.
"Yeah, it's been pretty bad. And they're not cheap," Mitchell said.
"I think we've been fortunate," Lee said. "We've been able to experience everything more as a family, and not having to split up and stuff."
"Yeah and even when they were little and we would go to Disney, they all enjoyed the same rides," Michelle said. "It wasn't like I was taking the little one on one ride and the big kids were going [on another]. We've always just been such a unit, such a -- we're just a team, all seven of us. Just because they're so close in age and we all enjoy doing the same things. And I think hockey has just reinforced our bond as a family."
Especially since, with Westin being a freshman and Mitchell being a senior, this is their first and last season to get to do this together. Which makes it much more special.
"Yeah, for sure," Mitchell said. "All of us playing just a little bit harder. And this is the only shot we've got, so we gotta make something happen of it."
"And we remind ourselves of that often," Michelle said. "Most nights when we're driving to the rink to watch a game, or driving somewhere, we really try to take it all in. Because we know that we really only have a few more games left of this season. So we just try to make the most of it, enjoy every minute."
"It gets crazy sometimes with all of us," Gavin said. "But we get through it together."
But for all they've been able to do together this season, there's one thing they've never done -- all five on the ice at the same time. But before the season is over, their coach has promised he'll make it happen.
"The tough part is that three of them are defensemen so it makes it a little more difficult, but I'm certainly willing to sacrifice one shift during the season to let the five of 'em go," Aus said. "You want to reward those guys, you want to make it special, you want to reward the parents too. They've done a good job with the boys."
"It'd be pretty cool, you know," Lee said.
And just maybe even get Lee and Michelle to shout.