Philadelphia Flyers forward Kevin Hayes paid tribute to his older brother Jimmy on Tuesday in an emotional Instagram post.

The elder Hayes died Monday at 31.

"Yesterday I lost my best friend, my brother," Hayes wrote. "My whole life it has always been 'Jimmy and Kevin,' or the 'Hayes brothers.' I have followed you around since I can remember and I wouldn't want it any other way."

"Whether it was youth hockey, Nobles, Boston College, or the NHL, you paved the way for me. You taught me everything I needed to know in order to succeed."

The Hayes brothers won a national championship together at Boston College in 2011. Jimmy, a second-round pick in 2008, played 334 NHL games split between the Chicago Blackhawks, Florida Panthers, Boston Bruins, and New Jersey Devils.

His professional career concluded in 2019 after a season with the AHL's Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.

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