Brothers, Boy Bands, and Budding Talents: The rise of Taro and Akito Hirose

Credit: Credit: Taro Hirose (Rick Osentoski - USA TODAY Sports), Akito Hirose (Bob Frid - USA TODAY Sports)

This article was written by Gary Mok, who is part of the Professional Hockey Writers Association x To Hockey With Love Mentorship Program. This program pairs aspiring writers with established members of the association across North America to create opportunities for marginalized people that do not traditionally get published on larger platforms covering hockey.

To Hockey With Love is a weekly newsletter covering a range of topics in hockey – from the scandals of the week to providing a critical analysis of the sport.

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Taro Hirose had just landed in Winnipeg for an April double-header when he was asked, “Were you ever a member of a boy band?”

“I cannot confirm or deny that,” he replied cryptically. “Yeah, I’ll just leave it at that.”

The boy band in question was supposedly made up of Hirose and three of his Salmon Arm Silverbacks teammates when they were all teenagers in the British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL). Though he could not confirm (or deny) its existence, Hirose did speak about the hockey journey that led him from going undrafted by every Western Hockey League (WHL) team as a youth to top NCAA free agent with multiple suitors lining up to give him an NHL contract.

It’s an unconventional arc for most modern NHLers – unless you’re Taro and his younger brother.

“He was my older brother so obviously, from my eyes, it was like, ‘Oh, this guy’s so cool, I want to be like that guy,’” Akito Hirose said less than a week after he made his own NHL debut with the Vancouver Canucks earlier this month.

The Hirose brothers, both of Japanese heritage, are not the most famous siblings in the sport, but their parallel paths should serve as inspiration for both hockey players and teams alike.

This is the story of how Taro and Akito Hirose went from near unknowns to chart-topping sensations.

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‘Shot me out of the sky’

Growing up in Calgary, the Hirose brothers loved the local Flames and found any opportunity to live out their childhood fantasies around the house.

“We had a little net downstairs in the basement,” Taro said, “and we would just go down there, stickhandle and shoot the ball around and pretend you’re Jarome Iginla or whoever it was at the time.”

The games quickly migrated to their driveway, a local outdoor rink, and a nearby pond nestled between the river. And sometimes, things got ugly.

“I mean, it was competitive,” Taro said.

“I do remember being a little brother crying a couple of times and having my mom come in and be a boss woman and whoop (him) a little bit,” Akito said, chuckling about it now.

“(But) we have a great relationship.”

The brothers gradually took hockey more seriously, going from the pond to local skills camps run by Scott Atkinson, then the University of Calgary men’s hockey team’s head coach.

“You could tell right away they were very dedicated and keen on hockey,” recalled Atkinson, who later coached both Hiroses at Edge School (a Calgary-area prep school with a renowned hockey program) and Akito for a second time in the BCHL. “They were always busy working on getting better.”

“Growing up, (we were) just taught to put in the work and you’ll see the result,” Taro said.

Hockey skills weren’t the only lessons they received, though; life lessons were also learned when neither brother was drafted by a WHL team, an experience that’s often a precursor to not having a future in professional hockey.

Atkinson noted how both of his former players were budding talents but “unheralded” in their youth, and that “players that were not anywhere near as good as them (got) drafted in the WHL.”

Added Akito: “We didn’t really have any major junior interest so, I mean, the college path was kind of picked for us.”

Taro, being the older one, was first to leave Salmon Arm (and his burgeoning music career) behind to enroll at Michigan State University, where his initial goals were tempered and sensible.

“Going into school, it was great just to get a scholarship and not have to have my parents pay for schooling. I was never really expecting to sign an NHL deal or ever be able to play in the NHL,” he said. “Just work hard and hopefully get to play in my freshman season… that was honestly what I was thinking going in.”

In time, though, his hard work was noticed by both the coaching staff at Michigan State as well as executives a few rungs up the hockey ladder. The summer after his freshman year, Taro received a call that shot his modest hockey ambitions out of the sky.

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‘You’re my kryptonite’

“I kind of had a good first year there (at Michigan State), found a groove with the team,” Taro said.

His strong freshman season, where he put up 24 points in 34 games, led the Toronto Maple Leafs to invite him to their development camp that summer. Taro made the most of the opportunity.

“(Toronto’s camp) was kind of where I felt like I took a big step… just thinking I could play at the pro level,” he said. “I think that was huge for my development and huge for my confidence.”

That moment of recognition, of how an NHL future was possible, was a long time coming. His talent – which went unacknowledged for so many years – was finally recognized by a team at the sport’s highest level. Before long, everyone else saw it too: as a junior, he was named Big Ten Player of the Year and a Hobey Baker Award finalist.

He put in the work and finally started seeing the results, going from unsung recruit to unquestionable star free agent by the end of his college career.

After fielding calls from multiple NHL teams, the decision came down to three, and the pitch from the Detroit Red Wings stood out.

“It was (then Detroit GM) Ken Holland at the time that said, ‘We want you to be here a long time.’ And that was something that I didn’t hear from every team,” Taro said.

Holland’s plan for the Michigan State product was to play him immediately with the Red Wings as their season wound down, and Taro ended up having a sizzling start, recording assists in each of his first five NHL games.

For younger brother Akito, the realization that his hockey path might lead him to the NHL came way later, and perhaps later than most others would have expected for themselves in a similar situation.

Some would have seen their older brother play at Madison Square Garden and started dreaming of their own NHL debut in the future. Others may have let their mind wander when they won the BCHL’s Best Defenceman Award, or when they played key roles in two successive NCAA Frozen Four appearances for their college team.

But for the younger Hirose – who experienced all of those things – the realization that he was NHL-bound came much more recently.

“Probably when I signed the contract (with Vancouver),” Akito said. “I mean, up until probably Christmas, I was fully intent on going back to school for my senior year.”

But as they did for Taro, NHL teams came calling for the smooth-skating, puck-moving defender from Minnesota State University. And one call from a certain front office executive — Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin — left a particularly strong impression.

“I think the biggest thing was the fact that he’s the one that made the pitch compared to other organizations who had other people that weren’t as high up kind of make the pitch,” Akito said.

From being undrafted to undeterred, the Hiroses had learned the importance of self-belief. But everyone wants to feel loved by others. Everyone wants to be sought out and valued for being who they are.

For future NHL teams who want to land previously unloved – but highly accomplished – NCAA free agents, it doesn’t hurt to wear your heart on your sleeves.

Like with the Hiroses, it could make all the difference.

***

‘You keep making me weak’

Popular boy bands like One Direction (whose song ‘One Thing’ was used to title the subsections of this story) consist of members who are often separated into specific archetypes – the Heartthrob, the Rebel, the Shy One, among others. In that way, a boy band’s ultimate success is not contingent on every fan loving every single member; they only need to fall for one.

This can be instructive for hockey players who are, like the Hiroses, undrafted and left feeling unwanted by the sport’s biggest franchises: You don’t need to make every single person love you.

Sometimes, all it takes is one.

And for NHL teams, understanding the importance of showing this level of devotion may feel out-of-step with the buttoned-down conservatism that is rampant at hockey’s highest levels. But words of affirmation matter. They may not matter as much to someone like Connor Bedard, who probably hasn’t had to worry in his hockey life about feeling needed or wanted.

But for those who aren’t used to getting fawned over, being shown that they are valued can have enormous, and sometimes deal-making, power.

Taro and Akito Hirose were once neglected by hockey’s major influencers – Holland and Allvin fell for them, showered them with personal affection, and sealed their (contractual) futures together with a well-tuned ballad.

Love songs aren’t only sung by boy bands.

And it’s not just music fans that adore hearing them.

***

‘Yeah, frozen and can’t breathe’

“I would definitely say I was a lot more nervous for his (debut) than mine,” Akito said when asked to compare how he felt in his first NHL game versus being in the stands for his older brother’s four years prior. “For mine, I was just having a blast. I was just having fun with it.”

Though the defender didn’t record a point in his debut like Taro, Akito did notch two assists in his third game with Vancouver. And the importance of being a player of East Asian heritage playing in a city with such a sizable East Asian population is not lost on the younger Hirose.

“I have a lot of friends that are from Vancouver, so I always knew it was a very diverse community… it’s cool, I’ve definitely felt the impact from the fans,” Akito said.

Taro noted that being a player of colour was something that he’s cognizant of — and proud of — as well. The self-described “cerebral player” is currently on his fourth professional contract with the Red Wings, having bounced between the NHL and AHL level since his electric opening number.

The occasional bumps in his NHL journey have given him much-needed perspective.

“I think I’ve been able to just take a step back and have confidence in my game no matter what’s going on,” Taro said.

And what about being a potential role model, for both youths of colour and young players that have felt unwanted by big-time clubs? What do the brothers think of people who may now be fooling around in their own basements pretending, not to be Jarome Iginla, but to be a Hirose?

Akito has a grounded outlook.

“I’m just trying to work hard and live my life the right way,” he said. “And then, after that point, I feel like it’s up to them if they want to idolize or use me as a role model or not.”