Daniel and Henrik Sedin admit to former teammate that they often tried to cheat to win hockey games
With the Sedin twins, Daniel and Henrik, preparing to be inducted into the Hall of Fame this year, we're going to start hearing about their many career achievements over the next few months - especially when the regular season kicks off in mid October. One thing you may not hear too much about, however, is how cheeky the Sedins really were.
Recently, Sportsnet analyst and Hockey Night In Canada personality Kevin Bieksa revealed something unique about the Sedins. They had an advantage that no other teams have had to my knowledge. At least no one in recent memory. They used the fact that they were identical twins to pull a fast one on NHL officials with regularity.
Per Bieksa, the Sedin twins told him that they used to play as one another during preseason games, All-Star games and, when Bieksa questioned them about whether or not they had ever done it during the regular season, they had indicated to Bieksa that they probably have - though, obviously they could not have done it often, as they'd certainly recall it if it was a recurring thing.
The most brilliant tactical play they had was when Henrik would get tossed out of the faceoff dot. Daniel, who played the wing his entire career, wasn't nearly as good at faceoffs as his brother Henrik, who was a natural center. The Sedins told Bieksa that when Henrik would get tossed out of the faceoff dot, he would simply skate over to Daniel and the two would talk briefly and skate around one another, in different directions and then Daniel would skate over to the wing and Henrik would skate right back to the faceoff dot to take the draw, with neither the officials, nor the rival centerman realizing what had happened. One of the benefits of being identical twins.
Is it dishonest? Yes. Is it hilarious? Also yes. Who knows how many wins those faceoff dot tricks amounted to in close games? In the end, though, it's not as though it amounted to any Stanley Cups for the twins. Just a fun story after two pretty impressive careers.
