Though he’s played hundreds of select and high school hockey games, a specific moment is ingrained in Cole Venuk’s memory on the ice.  Fittingly, the middle school highlight involves his older brother, Cade Venuk.

After stealing the puck from an opponent, Cole sped up the center of the rink until he felt the defense collapse on him; he noticed Cade open in his peripheral vision and passed the puck his way. 

Cade circled the net looking for an open shot or open teammate. Neither appeared.  Then he caught sight of Cole cutting through the left side of the defense at just the right time. 

Seeing his sibling coming open in front of the net, Cade passed to Cole who was already winding up his stick as the puck approached. In a split second Cole buried the puck in the back of the net.  Victory was secured for the Ice Jets.

After celebrating his first goal as a select player, Cole skated towards his team’s sideboard. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his brother Cade smiling with a look of approval. 

It’s difficult for young hockey players to earn the respect of older teammates – especially when that teammate is your big brother.  No wonder this moment is so special for Cole.

No matter if he was seven or 17 years old, Cole, now a senior, constantly found himself following in his brother’s footsteps; however, doing so made others think that Cole wanted to be exactly like his older brother by two years and created expectations that he had to be just as good or better than Cade.

“I try not to compare myself to my brother too much because I like to think that I’m self made,” Cole said. 

Cole found that no matter where he was, everyone talked about his brother and how much Cole resembles him. 

“I really look up to my brother, but I don’t know why people think we’re similar,” Cole said, “He’s always played defense and I play forward and we look nothing alike.”

When the two played on the same team, teammates and their parents saw them as a sibling dynamic duo. Even though Cade didn’t mind the title, Cole wanted to be his own player.

“This may seem selfish, but, the time where he assisted my first goal, I feel like he got a lot of extra credit,” Cole said. “People kept saying how amazing it was that he assisted his brother’s first goal, and he was getting all the praise.”

As Cole and his brother moved to different teams, Cole was driven to make a name for himself. 

Once he joined the Texas Heat, where no one knew who his brother was, Cole felt he finally had a fresh start where he could build his own name.

“It felt good to start from scratch and have my own hard work pay off,” Cole said.

While playing for Texas Heat select team, Cole also played for the Flower Mound Marcus Hockey team where he earned the title as assistant captain – the same role Cade earned while playing for Marcus.

Once again, Cole found himself following in his brother’s footsteps not by choice but by fate. 

“Once I got to high school, I began to accept the fact that me and my brother are similar, and I can’t do anything about it,” Cole said, “I used to think that my brother held the weight of his and my name, but I realized later on that I was the one with the weight.”

As the younger brother, Cole always felt like he got the short end of the stick.

He felt under appreciated.  He believed his brother got the credit that Cole deserved. 

As time passed, however, Cole realized that was far from the truth.  The Venuk name – Cade and Cole – were both synonymous with Marcus hockey.

“A lot of people at Marcus think of hockey and think of Cole,” Lochlan Payne said. “It’s really cool knowing that he’s one of my best friends.” 

As Cole’s high school playing days came to an end, he started to get recruited by college programs. He chose the University of Arkansas where his brother plays. 

“I remember the times where I tried to like other colleges because I was trying so hard to be my own person.” Cole said, “It’s not everyday that you get to be on the same Division I college team as you brother, It’s really rare, and it’s understatement to call myself lucky.”

Instead of resenting comparisons to Cade, Cole now embraces them.

“I wouldn’t want to be similar to anyone else anyways.”