It turns out that the 2024 NHL draft was all about siblings from Southern California.

In the first round, Zeev Buium was drafted 12th overall by the Minnesota Wild, joining his brother Shai, who, just three years prior, was drafted in the second round, 36th overall in the 2021 NHL Draft by the Detroit Red Wings as an NHL prospect.

I wrote about Shai and Zeev way back in January, on what was the seventh edition of this column. Fast forward to edition #18 and I’m excited to see Zeev join his brother as an NHL prospect in his own right.

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But the Super SoCal hockey bros weren’t the only set of brothers from Orange County who had plenty to celebrate during draft weekend.

The next day, during the fourth round, defenseman Tanner Henricks was selected in the fourth round, 101st overall by the Columbus Blue Jackets.

That made him the second Henricks sibling to be drafted to a Metropolitan division team. Last year, his older brother Ty, a left wing, was drafted in the sixth round, 183rd overall by the New York Rangers.

This immediately set up an intriguing possibility. If, eventually, both brothers make the NHL squad of the organization they were drafted by, they would become division rivals.

The thought that we might see Ty trying to score while Tanner attempts to poke the puck away from his brother was tantalizing for anyone with a sibling who has experienced the rivalry inherent to living in the same household.

Tanner and Ty are an interesting pair. While the Buium brothers play the same position and both attended the University of Denver — staying teammates as long as they could until the NHL draft broke them up — the Henricks have taken different tracks. Ty plays on offense and Tanner on defense. They also are at different colleges: Ty is at Western Michigan while Tanner is at St. Cloud State.

In fact, before they even play a shift in the NHL, they are already rivals — both St. Cloud and Western Michigan play in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference. So, the duo should be on opposite sides of some fierce conference matchups in 2024.

They even shoot with different hands: Ty is a lefty, and Tanner is a righty. Nearly every aspect of their profile as hockey players pits them as opposites to one another.

And yet, the two still have their brotherhood to credit for their successful hockey careers.

Growing up in Mission Viejo, Ty decided to go try out a hockey event, of all things. Tanner tagged along to watch and very quickly realized he couldn’t sit on the sidelines and watch his brother anymore. He had to be out there with him.

Tanner has followed in Ty’s footsteps all along the way. When Ty left SoCal, heading to Minnesota to play for Shattuck-St. Mary’s, Tanner followed shortly after. When Ty came back to SoCal to play for the Anaheim Jr. Ducks, Tanner replicated that step. When Ty went to the USHL, Tanner headed to a (rival) USHL team.

Now, the Henricks are in college, and in a few short years they will have an opportunity to chase their NHL dreams.

Tanner and Ty Henricks highlight a beautiful dynamic between siblings. Despite being as genetically similar as two people can be without being twins and chasing the exact same hockey dream, they could not be more different as players.

That’s really how it is with family, isn’t it? We are united by so many similarities to our closest relatives, but there is so much beauty in the infinite differences we have from each of them as our own truly unique human beings.

I am rooting hard that the Henricks both make their current teams, and I will absolutely tune in the first time they play each other.

The faceoff will be a beautiful picture of the best part of having a family and a wonderful story for the game of hockey as well.

Ethan Inman is a senior writing about Los Angeles’ unique hockey heroes in his column, “L.A. on Ice,” which runs every other Thursday.