Kellers continue brotherly tradition

Coach Joe Marsh looked back on his 25-year career at the helm of St. Lawrence hockey and barely noticed a striking oddity:

He hasn't gone hardly a year without a set of brothers on the team.

"I'm trying to think of how many we've had," Marsh said. "The Kellers, Flanagans, Muirs, Lappins — two times Lappins — four Lappins. Wow, when you start really sorting it out. ..."

In St. Lawrence history, there have been 12 sets of brothers who have played together. In Marsh's tenure, which began in the 1985-86 season, there have been nine.

"It's not a benefit unless they both can play," Marsh said. "You don't want to have one that's sort of in the dumps because his brother is playing. It's pretty important that both guys can come in and play."

But in recent years, Marsh has done away with the brother act for something even more rare: Twins.

"Well twins are a different story," Marsh said. "You've got one and they're so close a lot of times, you go and get the other."

Sean and Mike Muir started the trend in 1998 and played together through 2002. Marsh didn't even mind that he didn't know who was who.

"For the first two years, I had no idea," he said. "It was to the point where I thought, 'These guys are screwing with me. I mean, the laws of probability — How can I get it wrong every single day?' I ended up just going straight 'Muirzees.' There, that solved it."

Then it was Mark and Paul Wallmann from 2004-08. Derek and Jared Keller are the latest St. Lawrence twins.

Jared didn't think Marsh's tendencies to recruit brothers and twins was strange at all.

"I think it's great when they get one guy and go for the other guy," he said. "It's good for the family and good for the parents. I don't know why other schools don't do it more."

The Kellers' case is a bit different, however. Derek came to St. Lawrence first for the 2006-07 season, while Jared endured a long year at juniors not knowing if he would follow.

"(Jared) maybe wasn't as high a profile player," Marsh said. "But when you look at him and his work ethic, it's unbelievable. Maybe it just took an extra year to develop."

Jared said it was more an injury issue. He sat out much of Derek's final season of juniors, and St. Lawrence wanted to wait and see how Jared would respond before bringing him to the Saints.

"He needed to prove to St. Lawrence that he could play without injury," Derek said. "That was the situation."

The year apart was strange for both brothers.

"Before I came here, we played every year of our lives together," Derek said. "It was a little weird not having him here."

But when he finally came, the chemistry and camaraderie hadn't changed.

"We have the advantage of playing together for years," Derek said. "We know what we play like and each other's tendencies. We don't get on the ice all that often together, but when we do, there is a connection there."

Derek's the collected defensemen, while Jared is the goal-scoring forward.

"(Jared) gets you some big goals," Marsh said. "He's just been awesome for us, and we didn't give him a scholarship right away. Derek is a guy who handles the puck well and has pretty good stick skills."

The tandem has combined for 57 points on 18 goals and 39 assists.

While their contributions have benefited the Saints, it doesn't come close to the top-producing brothers in school history. That goes to Tim and Peter Lappin from 1984-88.

Peter is St. Lawrence's all-time points leader with 187, while Tim finished his career with 128 for a combined total of 315 in four seasons.

"They really played together," Marsh said. "To separate them would have reduced the effectiveness of either one of them. They played together for so long."

Next on the list of brothers could be the Hughes boys. George Hughes is a freshman defenseman. His brother, Gunnar, is currently playing at the Salisbury prep school, waiting for his shot at college hockey.

INJURY UPDATES

St. Lawrence is remarkably healthy considering its nonconference injuries and the flu bug traveling around college campuses.

This weekend the Saints definitely will be without Jared Keller, who suffered a concussion last weekend. He has not yet been cleared to play or practice by team doctors.

St. Lawrence will continue to rest Sean Coffey, who had both bronchitis and the flu dating back to early October. He tried to skate on Monday, but grew winded early and had to stop practicing. He hopes to return next weekend.

Sportswriter Daniel J. Cassavaugh covers St. Lawrence University men's hockey for the Times. You may reach him at dcassavaugh@wdt.net