NHL’s Matthew Tkachuk & NBA’s Jayson Tatum’s Friendship Goes Way Back In Time: Know More

It’s interesting to note that Tatum and a well-known NHL great went to the same school. An online video of a young Jayson Tatum addressing the camera and introducing himself and his buddies has become quite famous. A recognizable person was also spotted dancing in the background at the same moment.

NHL Matthew Tkachuk & NBA Jayson Tatum’s Friendship Goes Way Back In Time: Know More

The video, which was posted on YouTube on April 10, 2013, is just as silly as you’d anticipate from a group of ninth-graders.

A student talks about why Chaminade was the right school for him, and when he mentions the “great people and great friends,” four additional students appear in the background and perform some crazy shoulder shimmies.

Then it hits you: one of the kids placed fourth in the 2023 NBA Most Valuable Player vote, while the other placed in the top three for the 2023 NHL Most Valuable Player.

At Chaminade College Preparatory School in St. Louis, where they both graduated from high school, NBA sensation Jayson Tatum and NHL standout Matthew Tkachuk were classmates. On April 10, 2013, Jayson Tatum posted the video that has gone popular online to his YouTube account.

The aforementioned film, titled “J Tatum Movie,” seemed to be a segment of a school presentation in which Jayson Tatum discussed his decision to attend Chaminade College Preparatory High School in St. Louis for his senior year of high school.

Tatum credited the Chaminade Preparatory High School’s basketball program as well as wonderful people and admiring supporters for motivating him to enroll there. Jayson Tatum appears in the video together with his other four pals and one of them is Florida Panthers star, Matthew Tkachuk.

A decade ago, though, both were dreamers. Former classmates and teachers describe them as hard-working and humble — “though you see the way Tkachuk plays, you don’t think of him as a humble guy,” said Dan Stout, a theology teacher at Chaminade.

Naturally, there was a lot of talk about the two, especially during their ninth-grade year at Chaminade, as classmate AJ Anthon said. Tkachuk was the son of the adored Blue, whereas Tatum was a star player and the son of former St. Louis University player Justin Tatum. However, the men in the video remained the men in the video, not the men, if you will, in the video games today.

Tkachuk departed after his first year to play for the USA National Hockey Development team before moving to Canada. He was selected sixth overall in the 2016 NHL draft. Tatum, who studied for a year at Duke, was selected third overall in the 2017 NBA Draft.

The NBA’s Eastern Conference Finals include Jayson Tatum. The NHL’s Eastern Conference Finals include Matthew Tkachuk.

Tatum and Tkachuk still have ties to Chaminade ten years later. With classmates, some of whom still stay close friends and visit over the season. Tatum uses the same gym where his number is retired for his summer camp. Additionally, Tkachuk “came back to sign autographs at lunch in the cafeteria” in 2020, when St. Louis hosted the NHL All-Star Game.

 

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