WINONA, Minn. — Thanksgiving is a wonderful opportunity for college students to take a break from the books and go home to spend time with their families. It is a time to catch their relatives up on what has been happening in their young and exciting college lives.

As is always the case, however, the break ends far too soon, and students must leave the comforts of home and head back to campus to finish out the semester.

That is, unless a part of that family comes back to campus with them — which is exactly the case for three pairs of winter sports student-athletes.

Rose and Kennedy Kraus; Kareem Anthony-Bello and Raheem Anthony; and Nick and Noah Kiemel — who happen to be twin brothers — are all siblings who found themselves not only attending Saint Mary's together, but playing on the same teams as well.

Rose and Kennedy, who hail from Kasson, Minn., are both on the Saint Mary's women's hockey team and have shared the Cardinal uniform for just two seasons, but they have been teammates all their lives — and the two have loved every moment of their time together.

"Not much has changed from playing together in youth and high school, compared to playing together in college," said Rose, the elder Kraus. "I have always been supportive of Kennedy, but since going to the same school, I feel like I have an even stronger relationship with her on and off the ice."

And those positive feelings of playing with her sister are mutual for Kennedy.

"Playing with Rose is the best," she exclaimed. "I love seeing how all of the hard work and dedication we put into the game of hockey has put us both in this unreal position of playing college hockey together. We have become much closer throughout the years, building our relationship as sisters, and we have helped each other grow as individuals as well."

The Kraus sisters aren't the only sibling pair in Cardinal hockey uniforms this season. 

Nick and Noah Kiemel of the men's team noted that they both found themselves falling in love with Saint Mary's while being recruited out of the EHL junior hockey league.

"It was not always our plan to go to the same school," admitted Nick. "But when we were playing our last year of junior hockey together, we ended up talking to a lot of the same schools and realized how cool it would be to go to the same place and pursue our dream of playing college hockey together."

"I'm not really sure that I can put into words what it is like to play college hockey with my twin brother," Noah said. "It is truly a blessing that we both had the opportunity to come play for Saint Mary's. I couldn't imagine going to a school without Nick, now that we are here together."
 
Despite being twins, the Kiemel brothers bring their own style of play on the ice.

"Nick hits like a freight train, so he's got that over me for sure," said Noah. "I'd also say that if you put us in a flat-out race up the ice, Nick is going to win, he's a quite a bit faster than I am."

"Not only is Noah a defenseman, but he is also 6-foot-5 and you can't teach size," Nick said of his brother. "He also has a very good defensive stick and is good at defending the rush, so I do not have to skate backward as much."

Head coach Ryan Egan has enjoyed having both Nick and Noah as members of the men's hockey team — and while they may be twins, each brings their own unique talents to the program.

"To be honest, it has been great having Nick and Noah as part of our program," said Egan. "The fact that they are siblings hasn't played much of a role in their hockey experience from a coaching perspective. They each have their unique personalities, and they each play a different position. What I can say is, if I could expect each experience to be similar to my current experience, I would not hesitate to welcome another set of siblings into our program."

The third winter-sport sibling duo isn't found on the ice, but rather the hardwood, as members of the Saint Mary's men's basketball team. 

Kareem Anthony-Bello and Raheem Anthony are in the midst of their third year as teammates at Saint Mary's — thanks to Kareem exercising his option to use his fifth year of eligibility playing basketball for the Cardinals.

Raheem, as the younger brother, admitted that Kareem's experiences at Saint Mary's on the Cardinal men's basketball team definitely influenced his decision to choose Saint Mary's.

"Kareem being at SMU played a big part in my coming here," said Raheem. "It helped that he broke down how good a school Saint Mary's truly is." 
Raheem, who was named to the MIAC All First-Year Team his freshman season in 2019, claims that the way the two play together hasn't changed since they were kids. 

"Nothing has really changed, other than the fact that we know how to compete harder, and we are a lot stronger," he said. 

Though playing sports with your sibling in college certainly has its ups and downs, Rose, Kennedy, Nick, Noah, Raheem, and Kareem all agree on one thing — there are definitely more  "ups."

"The best part of playing college sports with my sister is that I always have at least one person in my corner," said Rose. "Getting to see all of her accomplishments is very exciting and our parents are thrilled to be able to see us on the same ice again. I am proud of every decision she has made to get where she is now, on and off the ice."
 
"The best part of playing together is being able to share one of the most memorable times of my life playing the sport I love with my biggest supporter," said Kennedy. 

"I'd say the best part of being able to play college sports with my brother is that no matter what, Nick is always there for me," said Noah. "You have a built-in best friend when you're a twin, and Nick will always be my best friend. It's also nice that our parents don't have to travel to two different schools or across the country to see us play."

"The best part so far about playing college sports together is just being together," said Nick. "We've talked about playing college hockey together from the time we were 4 years old — and to be able to do that here at Saint Mary's is amazing." 

"The best part about playing college basketball with each other is the fact that I don't have to explain anything to (Kareem) and he doesn't have to explain anything to me — we just know," Raheem said.         

Team members often say they are a "family" here on the Saint Mary's campus, but that saying goes a bit deeper for this group of Cardinal athletes.