Winnipeg hockey siblings score full hockey scholarships to same U.S. university

Siblings Dylan and Kyra Thiessen have played sports together for their entire lives and now they're taking things to a new level.

The Winnipeg brother and sister are both headed to the same American university next fall on full four-year hockey scholarships.

"I'm very excited. We're both very lucky and even more lucky to be going together," said Dylan, 19.

He was offered a scholarship to Mercyhurst University in Erie, Pennsylvania, about two months after 17-year-old Kyra — who goes by KK — found out about hers.

"We've pretty much done everything together since we were little, so it's just fitting that we're going to the same school," said KK, who started playing hockey at age four and competed with boys until Grade 9.

When she was six, KK was bumped up into the league for kids aged 7-8 and played alongside Dylan, on a team coached by their dad, Jeff. They went on that year to win a championship.

Bragging about his sister, Dylan said she's always been able to play at a high level, keeping up with 13-year-old boys who were getting bigger. That's when he realized she had a future in hockey.

"We hoped that they'd both get a chance to go somewhere [to play in university] but to get them at the same school is kind of unbelievable," said Jeff.

It also makes it a bit easier on Jeff and wife Anne-Marie, who have spent years running in different directions to take their kids to games. They also have two older sons who played hockey, not to mention other sports.

"We would have to sit down on a Thursday night and map out the whole weekend [schedule]," Anne-Marie said, "Everyone joked Jeff and I were never at the same rink in the same car."

Once Dylan and KK were awarded their scholarships, Jeff and Anne-Marie checked the Mercyhurst hockey schedule and noticed there were times this current season that both the men's and women's teams played at home on the same weekend.

"All the work that they did pays off. I can't thank them enough for everything they did," said Dylan, who just completed his final year playing with the Virden Oil Capitals of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League.

"For all four of us, they managed our time so well. I don't know how they did all the stuff they did for us."

Being around a hockey-mad family is nothing new for Anne-Marie.

All the work that they did pays off. I can't thank them enough for everything they did.- Dylan Thiessen

Her father played as did her three brothers, including one —  Mike Ford — who was with the Winnipeg Jets, playing alongside Bobby Hull, Ulf Nilsson and  Anders Hedberg during the World Hockey Association (WHA) days, prior to the team joining the NHL.

But that was in a more patriarchal era and it didn't occur to her parents to put her into hockey. For KK, however, there was no doubt she would play.

She was following the footsteps of her brothers and uncles. 

"It just always seemed like something normal for me," said KK, who just wrapped up playing with the St. Mary's Academy Flames prep team. 

The captain of her team, KK was listed by Hockey Canada as being among the "ones to watch" at the 2016 National Women's Under-18 Championship last November.

"Physical presence in defensive zone … makes a great first pass … leads by example … hard point shot … always in good position … calming blue-line influence," the report stated.

Those talents will be relied upon at Mercyhurst, a university that scouts top talent.

The women's Lakers team has been conference tournament champions 11 times: 2003–2011, 2013, and 2016. They have also made it to the NCAA's Frozen Four (the semi-finals and finals) in 2009, 2010, 2013, 2014.

The men's Lakers team was conference tournament champions in 2001, 2003, and 2005, and made the NCAA's Final Four in those same years.