The Ruck twins say they haven’t spent more than a day apart in their lives.<\/p>\n
It was no different when they got a call from Medicine Hat Tigers General Manager and Head Coach Willie Desjardins back in April to talk about the finalists for the WHL’s Player of the Year award.<\/p>\n
“Willie called me and Liam at home, and he said (Captain Bryce) Pickford got one of the nominations, and one of us got the other one, and he made us guess who got it,” Markus chuckled. “Then he said he’s just kidding, and we both got it. That was pretty funny. Put a little pressure on us, but no, that was awesome.”<\/p>\n
“Playing with a guy your whole life and growing up with him, it’s pretty cool to move up the ranks with him,” Liam added. “Even for Picks, he had a bit of a slower development path, and seeing what he’s doing now, it’s unbelievable. To be nominated with those guys, it was unreal.”<\/p>\n
While Pickford, a Montreal Canadiens prospect, would ultimately take home the award, embarking on their NHL Draft year together has been the real prize for the Rucks.<\/p>\n
The Tigers followed up their 2025 WHL Championship with a 50-win campaign and even reached Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Championship- thanks in large part to the efforts of the twins from Osoyoos, B.C.<\/p>\n
The mirror twins (Liam shoots right, Markus left) finished first and second in the WHL regular-season scoring race.<\/p>\n
Liam was the runner-up with a 104-point (45G-59A) run and also tied for second in goals.<\/p>\n
His 45 markers included a hat trick, eight multi-goal games, and 10 game-winning strikes.<\/p>\n
It’s a promising step forward for the 5-foot-11, 175-pound winger, who led all rookie skaters with 25 goals in 2024-25 before putting forward 10 points (6G-4A) in 18 playoff games to help the Tabbies clinch the Ed Chynoweth Cup.<\/p>\n
“It’s nice having a bigger role,” Liam said of his breakout year. “It’s lots of fun and knowing you have that pressure, it’s nice to deal with.<\/p>\n
I think the back half of the year, we just kind of enjoyed it. It’s just been lots of fun coming to the rink with all these guys and I think that’s the biggest part of why our success is kind of, kind of gotten a lot better here.”<\/p>\n
Liam represented the Tigers at the 2025 CHL USA Prospects Challenge and the 2026 WHL Prospects Game, where he scored for Team East in a 5-4 overtime win.<\/p>\n
He’s ranked 20th among all North American skaters by NHL Central Scouting in the agency’s final rankings ahead of the 2026 NHL Draft, while Markus is right behind at 23rd.<\/p>\n
“He’s the guy you want to have the puck on his stick when the game is on the line,” NHL Central Scouting Director Dan Marr said. “He’s got the offensive tools, just those offensive instincts, and he seems to know how to get open and get those types of shots. These are hard players to try to figure out how their game might translate to the NHL level. But, you know, you are talking about a Seth Jarvis, Brayden Point, Jordan Kyrou type of player.”<\/p>\n
Liam and Markus have taken interviews with NHL teams together and individually.<\/p>\n
While they’re not getting their hopes up, they’d love to be picked by the same team- much like the Sedin brothers, who their Tigers bench boss coached for several years.<\/p>\n
“You see how competitive they are with each other,” Desjardins said of the Rucks. “The Sedins are so competitive with each other, and that’s why they got to be so good, because they must have pushed each other so hard when they were young, but at the same time, they have each other’s backs all the time. And, you know, they’re just great to watch when they’re together. Maybe Liam’s a little bit more of a goal scorer, Markus, maybe a little bit more of a playmaker, but both are great defensively. They’re our key guys when we’re up by a goal or on the penalty kill. They’re both really good defensively and great with structure.”<\/p>\n
Now, the Rucks are playing the waiting game as they prepare for the Draft.<\/p>\n
Round 1 goes Friday, June 26, 2026, at the KeyBank Center in Buffalo, N.Y., with Round 2-7 following on June 27.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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