VANCOUVER — Accustomed to coaching gifted identical twins, Willie Desjardins was still astonished at something he saw from the Ruck brothers early in their rookie season with the Medicine Hat Tigers.

“There is one play I remember,” Desjardins said when asked about Liam and Markus, identical twins from Osoyoos, B.C., who are projected to be late first-round picks on Friday. “Liam was standing in front of the net, the righty. Markus picked up the puck at the wall at the blue line as a lefty. He’s coming in and all of a sudden Liam spins and Markus throws it back door right on his stick.

“I go, ‘How did you know, Markus, that Liam was going to spin and go there? Markus looked at me, like, ‘I thought you saw the game better than that, coach.’ I said, ‘No, really, how did you know?’ When Liam was standing there in front, he just rolled the toe of his stick. He didn't (point) his whole stick, just rolled his blade. Markus knew and put the puck right there.”

The twins remember the play from 20 months ago, before the Rucks’ massive breakout season finished this spring with them atop the Western Hockey League in scoring. Liam said it was during a home game against Regina.

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“I just kind of just put my stick out behind my back and turned around and just missed the puck,” he recalled. “(Markus) saw my signal and threw it across the crease, but it just missed.

“I think it's mostly just........

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