A pair of Cranbrook brothers are packing their lacrosse sticks and moving across the continent.

Dakota and Keiffer Hollister begin their trek to North Carolina today, where they will attend an all-boys prep school and play the field version of the game they love for the Greenies.

"I think it's going to be pretty cool," said Keiffer, aged 17. "I think about (lacrosse) all the time anyway, so it will be nice to actually be able to go out and play."

He will finish out his Grade 12 year in Arden, which is just outside Asheville, a couple of hours west of Charlotte.

As soon as Dakota has written his last Grade 10 exam today, the family will pile in the car and drive to Spokane, from whence the boys will fly east.

Dakota, 15, has spent the last couple of days perfecting the necktie knot, with the help of his dad Dean.

He's not a fan of the impending dress code: Mondays and Fridays, they can wear khaki pants with a golf shirt; the middle of the week, it's a dress shirt, tie and dress pants.

"I hate that," said Dakota. "I don't like clothes."

Given his druthers, he noted that he'd rather wear nothing - or at least (or most) a t-shirt and shorts.

Before his younger brother figured it out, Keiffer had offered to knot up a few ties for him, given that he's known how to since he was a youngster.

"I just figured out how to tie my shoes," joked Dakota.

Either way, the boys' knowledge of knots isn't what got them scholarships.

Dakota got spotted at the Westcoast 150 scouting event last summer in the Lower Mainland. Keiffer had missed out because of a knee injury.

Greenies coach Jeff Miles was in contact with Shellie Hollister shortly thereafter.

It had occurred to mom that Dakota had been homesick while boarding in Kamloops last year. He was able to come home the odd weekend or have his parents drive over to visit. But at some 40 hours drive, Arden isn't exactly a hop-skip away.

Shellie wondered aloud if the Greenies would consider taking both of her sons, to help alleviate those pangs.

Until then, Miles hadn't even realized there were two lacrosse phenoms in the family.

After viewing Keiffer's highlight reel and perusing his awards and accomplishments, the school offered to put both brothers up for the semester, thus exposing them to a wealth of university scouts.

"I didn't even know about them until I got the offer," said Dakota. "We didn't even think we were going to do it until we read into it, looked at the school and it was really nice. We thought it would be a good idea."

Christ School, set on an idyllic 500 acres, is affiliated with the Episcopal Church and open to all religious faiths.

It is near the Blue Ridge Mountains and several rivers. Students have access to outdoor pursuits like canoeing, kayaking and mountain biking.

It doesn't seem like there will be lots of time for that for the Hollisters, between maintaining good grades, playing across the U.S. and training with the varsity field lacrosse squad.

While Dakota was worried he would return home this summer playing like an American, Keiffer was confident their style of play would rub off on the rest of the team.

"Because of our box lacrosse, we're pretty aggressive. I don't think we'll lose that," he said.

The brothers played a few games together with the junior Cranbrook Elite, and they're excited to explore their lacrosse potential together.

"We've played two or three games together. We're brothers so we've got really good chemistry," said Keiffer. "We play really well together, so it will be really cool to see how much damage we can do in the States."

Both expect to start out at midfield, but Keiffer would like to try attack.

Although they'll be a long way away from home, they don't expect it will take long to make friends.

"It happens really fast when you're on a team," said Keiffer. "You bond really fast because you do almost everything together. I assume we're going to practice almost every day and hit the gym together, so it makes it really easy to make friends."

"They're going to like me way more than him," said Dakota, pretty much imagining himself in a Hollywood movie. "They're probably going to be all preppy people and I'm going to be running around?"

"Without a shirt on," laughed Keiffer.

The brothers will share a dorm room, which harkens back to when they were kids and shared a bunk bed.

If the Hollywood movie they're about to embark on is more Odd Couple than Van Wilder, Dakota is the neat one.

"He's a pig," he said, of Keiffer. "I can't do anything in a messy room. We'll be trying to do something and I'll quit, and be like 'I can't do this.' I'll start cleaning. It used to be the other way around. When we were younger and shared a room, I would make the biggest mess and he would clean it."

Ideally, they would like to have their Xbox video game console in their room, along with a kettle and some instant noodles.

But when it comes to battling the away-from-home blues, they are each other's best weapon.

"We're not going to be able to come home and visit all the time," said Keiffer, who had played away in Kamloops before Dakota. "I get to bring him with me this time, so I won't be missing home that much."

EMPTY NEST

The Hollister house will go from bustling hive to empty nest in short order.

The family usually takes a couple of Kootenay Ice billets at the start of each year, but Joey Leach will be the only teenager left when Dakota and Keiffer are gone.

"It will be different not having those guys around," said the Ice defenceman. "When we get home from late road trips, they're usually rolling around somewhere. It was always good to have them around."

The Hollisters have hosted as many as three hockey players at once. There was a time that Todd Mathews and Joey Leach were joined by former Kimberley Dynamiter Tory Caldwell

Shellie is bracing herself.

"It's a good thing we have Joey," she said. "We're used to a kerfuffle here all the time. The players are either here or the boys' friends are over. It's going to be a shock."