Pittsburgh Review

When Montreal head coach Martin St. Louis learned his sons Ryan and Lucas had been invited to the Penguins development camp earlier this month, he was thrilled about their opportunity.

“He’s obviously with the Canadiens, but he was really pumped because Pittsburgh is just a great spot for development,” said Lucas, the younger of the two. “They do things really well here. It was awesome to hear that news and know that we would be together here.”

The brothers recognize the uniqueness of their childhood, having a father who played 17 NHL seasons, mostly with Tampa Bay. Martin won a Stanley Cup with the Lightning in 2003, earned a Hart Memorial Trophy as league MVP, and five All-Star nods.

“It was awesome,” said Lucas, a defenseman set to attend Harvard in the fall. “Probably the best environment to grow up in and to have my dad coach us since I was 10. It was great. Just good to be around the game my whole life, really.”

Although both brothers idolized their father, they also loved watching Steven Stamkos, a teammate of their dad in Tampa Bay. Ryan’s favorite hockey memories were going to Lightning games, with Lucas noting how cool it was seeing how the pros live.

“I remember Fridays and Saturdays if they were playing at home, our whole family would go,” said Ryan, a forward entering his second season with Brown University. “Me and my two brothers, my mom, sometimes my grandparents. It was kind of a whole family event.”

That carried over to the St. Louis household which was “really competitive,” Ryan said. “A lot of street hockey games, a lot of knee hockey games. Even our grandpa got involved. I feel like since I can remember I was playing hockey whether it was on the ice or outside or inside.”

After two years with the Calgary Flames and 13 seasons with the Lightning, Martin finished his career with the New York Rangers. While with the Blueshirts, St. Louis participated in intense postseason battles against Pittsburgh.

He played a key role in eliminating the Penguins from the First Round of the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs; Lucas emphasized how proud the entire family was given that Martin’s mother had just passed away.

As for attending camp, Ryan shared: “I thought you know get this exposure anytime I get to be in a facility like this it's a privilege so try to just learn as much as I can there's great staff here great guys so I've had a lot of fun.”

In addition, Lucas noted: “you can just list so many greats that have played here and just the way they do things here obviously has been working.”

The St. Louis boys reunited with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Head Coach Kirk MacDonald; both played for him during their junior days with Dubuque of the United States Hockey League (USHL). Before heading to Brown University Ryan spent one year at Northeastern while Lucas' favorite memory came last year when Dubuque advanced to Clark Cup Finals.

He expressed satisfaction working again under MacDonald: “I just think he does a really good job he's a player coach for sure keeps everyone in check we had a really good culture which was awesome.”

Both are looking forward to taking what they've learned back first to Vermont where they spend summers after their father met their mother during college hockey days then respectively back at school.

“Just want to keep progressing with my game and have good year next year take it one day at time really,” Lucas concluded.