St. Cloud High School Hockey Siblings Keep Tech – Apollo Rivalry All In The Family

There wasn’t much hockey talk at the Althaus dinner table leading up to the Tech/Apollo hockey game last Tuesday (Jan 15). The fact that parents Jeff and Karen were both going to be at the National Hockey Center for the game was a given. After all, the starting goalies (yes, plural) are their sons; Austin, the older of the two, plays for Tech, Nick, two years younger, a freshman at Apollo.

Karen and Jeff watched with a bit of nervousness as the two shared the ice for only the second time this year. Tech won the first time back in December, as was the case on Tuesday night. That night, however was about the two sons of Karen and Jeff…two brothers between the pipes on and off the ice.

“It’s fun working with both of them in the off season,” says the proud dad and former Cathedral goaltender, “Austin has always tried to help Nick, and that is fun to watch.”

Karen likes watching both play goaltender. She admits, it was a little nerve-wracking watching both as their respective teams took to the ice.

“I just want them both to play well and give their teams a chance to win,” said Karen, as she watched with their youngest, Noah.

As the game ended, players from Tech and Apollo, teammates and opponents alike, congratulated Nick and Austin for their efforts in net.  Both parents knew their sons had worked hard to get where they were that night…across the ice from each other, in net.