Tkachuks make appearance on ‘New Heights’ with Kelce brothers

Jason Kelce didn’t hold back when introducing the Tkachuk brothers on Wednesday’s episode of his hit podcast, “New Heights,” which he hosts with his brother, Travis.

Pumping the energy from the start, Jason went through the Tkachuks’ impressive list of accolades while Travis cheered on, and Matthew Tkachuk and Brady Tkachuk couldn’t help but crack a smile.

“Love the energy,” Brady said.

“I’m up, I’m up now boys,” Matthew echoed.

Matthew has been on a bit of a media tour since wrapping up the 4 Nations Face-off tournament last week, booking a spot on “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon” on Monday and now joining “New Heights” with his brother.

While the Kelce brothers both made their careers in the NFL (Jason with the Philadelphia Eagles and Travis with the Kansas City Chiefs), they both grew up playing hockey and have been supporters of the NHL for a long time.

The Tkachuks started by recapping the 4 Nations Face-off and discussing having the opportunity to play together for the first time.

“It was the best hockey experience I ever had,” Brady said. “The NHL and NHLPA did an unbelievable job. It blew the expectations right out the water.”

Even Jason recognized the buzz around hockey throughout the country during the tournament.

“I haven’t seen the general country as excited about hockey as much as it was [for this tournament],” Jason said. “I love when hockey is that relevant. It’s exciting. It’s aggressive. There was passion out there. Everybody loved what you guys were putting out there for Team USA.”

Jason – wearing a USA hat – shifted the conversation to the future of international play in hockey, then eventually asked the Tkachuks how hockey can continue to build on the momentum from the tournament.

“It’s exciting because you’ve got people across the country that might have … never watched a game that are now fans,” Matthew said. “That’s something that Brady and I and the rest of our team should be proud of is that we grew the game in this country and the game is in a better place now than it was two weeks ago.”

After taking a trip down memory lane – talking about growing up together with their dad, Keith Tkachuk, who played 19 seasons in the NHL – Matthew talked about how special it was to share the Stanley Cup with his dad after last season’s championship with the Florida Panthers.

“It was so special,” Matthew said. “He worked his [butt] off for 19 years but ultimately didn’t get to finish the job.

“After the game, when we’re on the ice and I finally got to hug them all,” Matthew continued. “I don’t know how the Cup ended up in my hands … and just me handing it to my dad that first time was a feeling that I’ll never be able to explain how unbelievable it was.”

Matthew went through his day with the Cup and, after a couple more segments, the hosts wrapped up the appearance.

“Can’t thank you enough,” Travis said. “Representing the USA, representing the good brothers of America. Seeing the family dynamic, it was so cool for me to relate, knowing that I had something like that with Jason.”

The Kelce brothers played against each other in Super Bowl LVII back in 2023.

That wasn’t the end of the hockey talk on the episode, as the Kelce brothers talked about who their next hockey guest is going to be (hint: they might shoot for Wayne Gretzky next).