A four hour drive southeast from the soldout arena they were set play in Saturday night, Ryan Suter and Phil Kessel, two of the best American hockey players, grew up together playing in bragging-rights-on-the-line summer games at an empty rink in Wisconsin.
The Suter and Kessel families have cemented themselves in hockey lore in Madison, Wisc. But the only rivalry between the families took place during the summer when Ryan Suter faced Phil Kessel in a pickup game every afternoon.
The teams were always the same. Ryan and Phil's younger brother Blake were captains against Phil and Ryan's younger brother Garrett.