Nolan, the younger of the two, starred as a top scorer for Austin Prep in Reading, Mass. and just began his first college season at Maine. Last June, the Toronto Maple Leafs selected him in the sixth round of the NHL Entry Draft.

Jimmy, meanwhile, earned a third-round selection from the Nashville Predators in 2012. After three years at the Belmont Hill School, Jimmy bolstered his pre-draft credentials by breaking the Eastern Junior Hockey League’s season points record with the Foxboro-based South Shore Kings in 2011-2012.

Vesey Sr. speaks proudly of his sons in a rich Bostonian accent. He considers their scoring abilities a gift, or at least something genetic.

“They were born to score,” Vesey Sr. said. “People always say, ‘You can teach skating, [but] you can’t teach height, [or] you can’t teach goal-scoring either.’ You can work on your shot, but from my experience, you’re born with it.”

Vesey Jr. speaks with a softer accent than his parents, who first met many years ago in a Charlestown elementary school. Born in Charlestown himself, Vesey lived the first seven years of his life in Boston’s oldest neighborhood before his family moved to North Reading, Mass.

Despite the distance, the town remained a central part of his upbringing. Vesey spent much of his pre-collegiate summers honing his hockey skills against cousins and friends at The Kitchen, a large roller hockey court just off Charlestown’s main street. He takes pride in his Boston identity as something he tries to honor, both on and off the ice.

“My parents are blue collar people, and Charlestown is a blue collar town,” Vesey said. “So I think it’s kind of in my blood…just the fact that I was raised in an environment where my parents tried to instill…a blue collar work ethic into me, and that’s something I’m trying to implement into hockey, school, and stuff like that.”

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

Vesey’s lunch pail mentality has forced coaches, teammates, and trainers to take notice in recent months.

This summer, Vesey dedicated himself to improving the finer points of his defensive game in the hopes of becoming a more complete prospect.

Vesey trained with a group of 15 teammates at Harvard’s Palmer Dixon Strength and Conditioning Center and spent a week at the Predators’ prospect Development Camp.

Crimson coach Ted Donato ’91, a former Boston prep school and Harvard hockey standout himself, has observed an extra pep in Vesey’s step in the team’s first practices this season.

“As a coach, when you have guys that are special players, guys with some special talents, it’s really nice to watch them improve,” said Donato, who was a part of the Crimson’s only national championship-winning team as a sophomore forward in 1989. “They can do some things every day on the ice in practice where you shake your head and smile.”

Donato says that Vesey’s development reminds him of a young Alex Killorn ’12, a second line forward for the Tampa Bay Lightning and Harvard’s latest alum to break into the NHL.

The most dramatic improvement for Vesey this year has been his strength and conditioning. He committed himself to a more balanced diet last summer to trim body fat and add muscle.