Courtesy: PC Men's Hockey/Twitter

By Ethan Ready

Brotherly Love

Family Feud: former Spruce Kings, Poisson brothers faceoff in NCAA

Jan 22, 2021 | 6:27 PM

PROVIDENCE, RI – For the first time ever in their hockey careers, Ben and Nick Poisson faced off against each other, and it comes with more meanings than just one.

The two brothers both spent time playing for the Prince George Spruce Kings of the BCHL before embarking on their collegiate careers.

From 2015 to 2019, Ben played for the Spruce Kings as he went on to score 114 points (55 goals, 59 assists) in 165 games spent in Prince George. Meanwhile, Nick scored 77 points (35 goals, 42 assists) in 107 games with the Spruce Kings. The brothers were also both members of the historic Spruce Kings team during the 2018-19 season that went on to win the BCHL championship and make it to the national championship game at the RBC Cup in Brooks, Alberta.

Well before the Maine Black Bears took on the Providence Friars last Friday (Jan. 15), it was a dream of Nick’s to one day face off against his brother in a competitive game.

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Moments ahead of the opening faceoff, Providence head coach Nate Leaman called Nick over to tell him to go ahead for the faceoff.

“He just called me over to the bench right before the faceoff and was like ‘go ahead, take it.’ It’s something we won’t forget for a very long time,” admitted Nick.

It was a moment that brought a smile to the Poisson’s as the pair squared off at centre ice as both team’s benches erupted recognizing the matchup.

“It was really fun to go up there, see my brother, and both take the draw with a big smile,” said Nick.

Meanwhile, Ben admits he was filled with emotion, having not seen his brother since the summer before heading off for his second year at Maine.

“You can kind of tell in the opening faceoff video that I had a big smile on my face. My heart was going, my adrenaline was going pretty good. The only thing going through my head was you better not lose this faceoff,” Ben chuckled, reflecting back at the moment as he’s now in his second year with the Maine Black Bears.

The two teams played back-to-back with the series being split, Maine winning 4-3 on the opening tilt and Providence winning 3-2 on the following Saturday.

As for their parents, both missing Nick and Ben as they remain home in Vancouver, but both remained neutral in the matchup.

“My parents made it pretty clear before the weekend that they were neutral. They were cheering on their boys, they weren’t cheering for either team. But at the end of the day, we did split the weekend so they were pretty happy about that.”

Ben ended up scoring two goals in the opening matchup against Providence while Nick added an assist to his freshman totals.