Bands of brothers: Regina Thunder roster has five sets of brothers, three of them twins

Playing on the Regina Thunder is more than just a brotherhood; it’s a family matter.

The reigning Prairie Football Conference Champions have five sets of brothers and three sets of twins on the team.

“We want to have a brotherhood on our team, and bring that instantly,” said Head Coach Scott MacAulay.

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He said it’s not necessarily a coincidence that there are three sets of twins on the team; the players just had the skills team recruiters were looking for.

The Thunder will be on home turf when players take on the Edmonton Huskies in the PFC Semi Finals on Sunday.

Twins Kaiden and Kohl Thomson play as a linebacker and defensive lineman, and Carter and Jackson Ashman are on the field as a running back and defensive back.

The Regina Thunder take the field at Mosaic Stadium. (Wanda Harron/Regina Thunder)

“I think it’s quite crazy,” Carter said about the sets of siblings he plays with. “Even last year, we had a couple other sets of brothers.”

MacAulay’s own twin sons, Matthew and Chase, are linebackers on the team.

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Matthew said the family dynamic brings them together rather than pulling them apart – even when they have a tough game.

“We push each other to go further, and there’s a standard, so we try to raise that standard every single day,” he said.

Chase and Matthew MacAulay won last year’s PFC Championship together while on the team. (Gillian Massie/ 980 CJME)

Being twins and playing in different positions, Carter and Jackson said they lean into the sibling rivalry.

“I think it makes it more competitive than just playing with a different teammate, because you always want to do better than your brother,” Jackson said. “But you also want your brother, your twin brother, to do good as well.”

While Carter said they don’t have “twin-telepathy,” the two understand the momentum of the game.

The twins’ father, Chris Ashman, played for the University of Regina Rams and is now the Thunder’s receiver coach.

The Ashman brothers are fraternal twins, but look nearly identical. Scott said he has mixed up the Ashman twins before – and will probably do it again.

“Some of them, if they changed jerseys, we definitely would have an issue knowing who’s who in the zoo,” he said.

The Thomson twins said they’ve played on the same sports teams for most of their lives and wouldn’t sacrifice it for anything.

“It’s probably one of the better experiences of my life so far,” said Kohl.

The Effa brothers and the Tkachuk brothers round out the family relations on the team.

With two years between Kenten and Owen Effa, the two linebackers said being on the field as starting linebackers is pretty special. (Gillian Massie/ 980 CJME)

“When you’re in on a tackle and then look down, you see your brother right there, definitely fires me up, gets me gets me hyped,” Owen Effa said. “It’s pretty special.”

He said he could thank his older brother for his progression on the field during his time with the team.

Luka and Marko Tkachuk agreed that playing on the team was priceless and can play like a one-track mind.

“That was pretty nice and just surreal to let him decide that on his own,” Marko said.