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Prior to the ice time, Brouwer noticed the poise of Keith’s boy.

“With Tkachuk being around the game so much, being in NHL dressing rooms with his dad, I think he’s got some comfort,” Brouwer said. “I sat beside him in the dressing room…we had a good chat about St. Louis and a lot of other things.

“I think he’s doing really well with the whole being in the NHL for the first time – for himself.”

The captain thinks so too.

“After (practice), I asked Matthew how he felt out there,” said Mark Giordano. “He said he felt great, which is nice to hear. He seems to have that confidence, which you need at this level. He didn’t look out of place, that’s for sure. Just fit right in nicely.”

Tkachuk has been in Calgary for most of September, eager to come out early and get acclimatized to his surroundings and – in his words – his new teammates.

The nerves, however, were there.

And can you blame him?

This isn’t the Ontario Hockey League or the Memorial Cup final, which feels like years away now.

This is the NHL.

“I was (nervous) on (Thursday) night, kind of wondering what it would be like. The first day,” said the London Knights winger. “But I thought it went really well (Friday). Once you get on the ice and you’re shooting around or doing flow drills, everything is blocked out and you’re just there playing.”

Aside from his first casual conversation of training camp with Brouwer – “We were just getting to know each other really,” Tkachuk said – he also found out that veteran defender Dennis Wideman played with his pops. Small world.