Brothers clash as Spitfires host Knights

By Cody Wall

Look mom, the kids are fighting again.

It was a story of brothers last night when the Windsor Spitfires hosted the London Knights. On Oct. 4 Windsor Spitfires’ rookie Jean-Luc Foudy, 16, and London Knight forward Liam Foudy, 18, faced off against each other for the first time in their hockey careers. Before the game, Foudy was noticeably excited about the opportunity to play his brother for the first time

“Of course it’s going to be exciting. I never have played against him, only played on the same team so it will be a really exciting experience,” said Foudy.

Although this the first the brothers played against one another they are no strangers to family competition. Add in the fact that both of their parents are former athletes—a father who played in the CFL and an Olympian mother, and you can only imagine the intensity of their family battles.

“Between me and my brother it was always very competitive,” said Foudy. “Me and my brother were always trying to be better than one another.”

Foudy has had a strong start to his OHL career, scoring five points in his first five games. Liam, on the other hand, is a little further along in his career, being drafted 18 overall by the Columbus Blue Jackets in the 2018 NHL draft.

“We always wanted to be better at what we did compared to each other,” said Liam. “When we played against each other in road hockey or mini sticks we always went pretty hard and now to finally play against him in a game it’s going to be really fun.”

Over the course of the past several decades, there has been a number of brothers who have played together in the NHL. Currently, there are 17 pairs of brothers playing in the league. The Staal family has three brothers in the NHL and a fourth who formerly played in the league. The Howe family even had a father-son duo that played together in the 1970s. The Foudys are looking to be one of the next brother duos to add to this list.

Well neither brother was able to register a point on the night the game had several memorial moments, including the brothers starting the game on the ice together. However, it was the younger of the two brothers who ended up with the last laugh. As Windsor defeated London 2-0 after Spits goaltender and Foudy’s teammate Michael DiPietro, 19, shut down Liam and the Knights.

“They are both great players and little fouds [Jean-Luc] is going to have a great career in this league,” said DiPietro. “Playing against your brother is pretty cool on both sides. I’m sure fouds [Liam] on London didn’t like his little brother getting under his skin.”

Though Foudy might have won the first game against Liam, it is clear that the family rivalry is just beginning. The Foudys will not have to wait long for their next opportunity to play each other as the Spits and Knights are set to play four more times this season. The next game is Nov. 25.