St. Louis Blues defenseman Tyler Tucker weighed seven pounds, two ounces when he was born March 1, 2000, in Longlac, Ontario. Fifteen minutes later, his fraternal twin brother, Jesse, checked in at six pounds, five ounces.
Today, Tyler is 6-foot-1 and 204, and still bigger than Jesse.
“That’s because he was eating food 15 minutes before I came out,” Jesse said, chuckling.
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Fellow Blues defensive prospect Leo Loof was supposed to be delivered first on April 25, 2002, in Karlstad, Sweden. But when doctors called for a last-minute Caesarian section with his identical twin, Linus, the situation changed.
“We always get the question, ‘Who’s the older brother?’ and I get to say, ‘Me by one minute!'” Linus said, proudly.
There’s typically a strong connection between siblings, but with twins, even those who don’t always get confused for one another like the Tuckers, there’s a special bond that can’t be broken. Even when one makes it to the NHL and it still remains a dream for the other.
Tyler Tucker, 23, and Leo Loof, 21, who didn’t know each other had a twin brother until told by The Athletic, recently sat down together at the Blues’ practice facility.
“It’s rare to have one set of twins (on a team), so to have two of us, it’s pretty cool,” Tyler said.
“It’s cool to have another guy on the team who shared the same moments as me, and what it’s all about,” Leo said.
The two Blues shared memories of their childhoods that were an ocean apart as well as the support they continue to show for their brothers.
Tyler had blond hair and Jesse’s was dark, so that they were twins wasn’t obvious to everyone. But it was to them.
“It starts pretty young, probably 2 or 3 years old,” Tyler said. “You’re kind of the same person.”
Initially, Mom dressed them alike, but that didn’t last long.
“As they got a little bit older, around 3, they would say, ‘I’m not wearing the same thing as him — no way!’” Jen recalled.
Still, Tyler would occasionally get called Jesse and vice versa.
“If we were with my mom, she’d be sure to correct whoever was saying it wrong,” Tyler said. “I’m sure Leo had it worse than me, though.”
Tyler Tucker in green, Jesse Tucker in blue. (Courtesy of the Tucker family)For the Loofs, it was different being identical, both having bleach-blond hair and blue eyes, but it didn’t dawn on them like it did the Tuckers.
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“I was probably 5 years old when I realized I had a twin and everything that comes with it,” Leo said. “When you start going to school and playing sports, I think that’s when I realized it.”
The Loofs wore the matching outfits, too, which oftentimes included overalls.
“Even when I look at pictures when I was younger, I don’t know who’s who,” Leo said.
Their parents, Patrik and Marie, would get them mixed up too.
“People say, ‘This is Leo. No, this is Linus,'” Patrik said. “You learn as a mom and dad to have some markers to recognize them, but sometimes even we say the wrong name.”
Linus Loof on the left, Leo Loof on the right. (Courtesy of the Loof family)It was a bit of an annoyance, especially as the Tuckers and Loofs got older, but as Leo said, “You just laugh about it and get used to it.”
There are far more reasons why being a twin is beneficial.
“Growing up in a small town, there was only so much going on, so we basically did everything together,” said Tyler, referring to Longlac, which has a population of about 1,200 residents. “You always had your best friend with you when you get to a new school or a new team, which made it a lot more comfortable. We were also in the same classes, and there were probably only 10 kids in our grade, so we always had the same group of friends, too.”
As you can imagine, those friends would need to come up with nicknames for the brothers, and with the last name Tucker, there was a natural one.
“They called us Tucks,” Jesse said. “If were both around, they’d call us Jesse and Tyler, but if there’s only one of us, they’d call us Tucks.”
For Leo and Linus, their nickname was either the Loof or Loofer.
“Sometimes, our friends didn’t want to say the wrong name, so they just said the last name so they couldn’t be wrong,” Linus said.
This led to some interesting situations, in which those friends would pressure the Loofs into confusing the teacher in the classroom.
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“We would change seats, and they all thought it was funny,” Leo said. “She was laughing, too, because she didn’t realize it at first.”
It was in gym class where the landscape would turn drastically between the boys. Everything was a competition.
“We wanted to beat one another,” Tyler said. “He wants to beat you, and you want to beat him, even if it’s in dodgeball. Jesse was better at some things, and I was better at some things, but there was always that edge between us.”
When the Tuckers played pick-up hockey, Mom would plead with the people making up the teams.
“They used to put them playing against each other,” Jen said. “I would say, ‘No, don’t put them on separate teams because they’d always end up in some kind of argument. They would get after each other, almost into fist fights on the ice.”
Even on the birthday they shared.
“We’d always had a sleepover that night, and one year, we had a couple buddies over, and we were playing mini-sticks,” Jesse said. “Well, you know how that goes. It got a little heated and, yeah, probably a few punches were thrown. But we came out on the other end of it.”
Tyler Tucker in black, Jesse Tucker in a blue Leafs jersey. (Courtesy of the Tucker family)It was the same for the Loofs, according to Dad.
“First, they have the ice hockey practice, and after that they went to the tennis court to play for two hours,” Patrik said. “Often they came home angry because one of them won the game and one lost the game.”
But who won depended on who you asked.
“When we come home, our dad would say, ‘How it went?'” Linus said. “I would say, ‘I won,’ and Leo would say, ‘I won.’ We both say that nobody can accept a loss. So Dad never know who won.”
For both sets of twins, there was no backing down.
“I didn’t give him any credit,” Leo said. “No, no credit to him.”
As Leo said it, Tyler laughed.
“No credit!” Tyler said. “You want people to think that you’re the better brother.”
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And it wasn’t limited to just sports.
“Leo and Linus would even compete to eat the most pancakes,” Patrik said. “They would compete with everything, but it was on the right level, if you understand. It’s over very fast, and they are always the best friends ever.”
Linus agreed with Dad.
“When you have your best friend with you, you can do stuff that other kids maybe can’t do,” Linus said. “We could play street hockey, and you weren’t by yourself. You always had your brother who could be the goalie if you needed one.”
Linus Loof on the left, Leo Loof on the right, both in teal NHL jerseys. (Courtesy of the Loof family)Each of the two sets of twins started out as forwards.
The Loofs grew up big fans of the Sedin brothers, Daniel and Henrik, for a couple of reasons: No. 1, the Sedins were twins playing in the NHL, and No. 2, they were also from Sweden.
“That was a dream for me and my brother,” Leo said. “We wanted to experience that together. But when we talked about the NHL, you thought, ‘That’s never going to happen. It’s unreal.’”
Back then, it didn’t appear that any of the brothers were NHL-bound. But along the way, both Tyler and Leo switched from forward to defense, and the future began to fall their way.
In ninth grade, the Tuckers left Longlac to attend school and play hockey at Westgate Collegiate & Vocational Institute in Thunder Bay, Ontario, about three hours from home. Then in 10th grade, Jesse talked Tyler into moving to Everest Academy in Vaughan, Ontario, near Toronto.
“I was totally against the idea, but Jesse was like, ‘We might as well give it a try,’” Tyler recalled. “Once I moved to Toronto, I had people talking to me about junior (hockey) and I thought, ‘Wow, I’m pretty good at hockey.’ I probably wouldn’t be where I am without him making that decision.”
In 2016, Tyler was picked in the first round (No. 14) by the Barrie Colts in the OHL draft, and in that same year, Jesse was taken in the 12th round (No. 125) by the Owen Sound Attack.
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A rugged defenseman, Tyler watched his career take off in the OHL, where he would become an All-Star with the Colts, while Jesse would eventually take the route of the United States Hockey League (USHL) and NCAA.
“It was awesome,” Jesse said. “I was super proud of him. How can you not be? They’ve been two very different paths, but he’s been supportive of my career and I’m supportive of his.”
Tyler Tucker on the left, Jesse Tucker on the right. (Courtesy of the Tucker family)Meanwhile in Sweden, the Loofs, who stayed home, were on similar paths.
“He was a really good player, probably better than me when we were younger,” Leo said.
After Dad had trouble telling them apart earlier in their lives, now it was the case on the ice.
“They were very skilled, both of them,” Patrik said. “Leo scored a lot. Linus scored a lot. I couldn’t see who was going to be a top player at that time. But then Leo took a role as defense and there was more difference between them.”
Still, in order to better distinguish them, Leo would put white tape on his stick and Linus would use black tape.
“It’s still like that today,” Patrik said.
Later, they would both play for Farjestads Jr. of the Swedish Jr. League and get some games with Farjestads BK of the Swedish Hockey League. But then Linus sustained a knee injury and a concussion and missed a year.
“It was tough because before the injury come, I never felt so good,” Linus said. “If that injury never come, what should happen? So, of course, that was disappointing.”
Leo Loof on the right, Linus on the left. (Courtesy of the Loof family)In a two-year span, both Tyler and Leo, two players who had switched positions, were drafted by the Blues as defensemen.
In 2018, Tyler was selected in the seventh round (No. 200).
“Unfortunately for me, my draft day was a little different than most people,” Tyler said. “I spent it in Barrie, watching online, and my family was back home.”
The first text Tyler received was from Jesse, who was driving home to Longlac from Toronto.
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“I was using all of my data on my cell phone because I kept refreshing the page and refreshing the page,” Jesse said. “I was losing service and then I saw his name. I texted him, ‘Congrats! Love you!'”
Tyler felt both elated and guilty.
“Obviously you wish that Jesse could be in the same scenario,” he said. “He could be sour and sad about what I’m doing, but for me, he’s been one of the biggest supporters I’ve had ever since I got drafted. It’s been pretty cool to have that.”
Jesse began his NCAA career at Michigan State but has transferred to Clarkson, where he’ll be a junior this season.
“In the end, we have the same goal, and that’s making the NHL,” said Jesse, who played in the Blues’ prospects camp in 2022. “He’s there already, so I can always call my brother and say, ‘Hey, what’s this like?’ He can always give me that feedback because he’s been through it. I hope to keep progressing and maybe get a chance to sign a pro deal one day.”
Back home, Mom and Dad (Byron) are pulling for Jesse.
“He still has a chance,” Jen said. “Tyler took a different route than Jesse and hopefully they both get to the end result.”
In 2020, Leo was selected in the third round (No. 88).
“I was there with my brother and a lot of friends, and they were all screaming,” Leo said.
They were so loud that Leo had to step outside to do interviews with the media.
“I was disappointed that I didn’t get drafted, but I hope for the best for Leo,” Linus said.
Dad was glad to witness that.
“I don’t know how I can describe it,” Patrik said, “but when there are happy things with one of the brothers — Leo or Linus — they support each other a lot.”
There was one mishap on draft day that made for a funny moment for the family.
When the Blues announced they’d taken Leo, they posted a picture of who they thought was their newest player on Instagram. Only it wasn’t Leo — it was Linus.
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“I wrote on the comments, ‘Hey, it’s me on the picture!’” Linus said. “I got many ‘likes’ on the comment, and we were laughing about it.”
This is the Blues’ Instagram. It’s supposed to be Leo, but it’s actually Linus. (Courtesy of the Loof family)Linus is still playing hockey, now in the Swedish third division.
“He’s doing good,” Leo said. “It’s one step at a time. I want him to play at the highest level possible.”
Linus’ NHL dream is still alive.
“I hope so,” he said.
And since they’re twins, if it’s going through one of their minds, it’s going through both of their minds.
“Jesse and I are always thinking alike,” Tyler said. “You read off one another. It’s special to have someone like that.”
“When Linus is thinking about something,” Leo said, “I know exactly what he’s thinking about.”
All these years later, it’s the same as it’s always been.
“They don’t talk about it so much to us, but they have almost a silent language to each other,” Patrik said. “It’s really like that.”
(Top photo of Tyler Tucker: Scott Rovak / NHLI via Getty Images)
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