The Suzuki Brothers: From Road Hockey to the NHL

It’s pretty wholesome when two brothers both end up in the NHL, and the Montreal Canadiens Nick Suzuki got to experience that this weekend as he was about to play his younger brother Ryan for the first time in actual NHL jerseys. He chatted with TSN ahead of Saturday’s preseason matchup against Ottawa, and his excitement was pretty obvious the whole time.

It’s Not Like the Suzuki Brothers Haven’t Played Each Other Before

The two have actually faced off plenty of times before, just not like this. As Suzuki pointed out, they played against each other a bunch back in junior hockey, but somehow that doesn’t quite carry the same weight. “Hopefully one day we’ll get an actual NHL game in,” he said. “But we’ll take the preseason game.” Even a preseason matchup felt like a real milestone worth celebrating.

Suzuki lit up talking about watching his brother’s game develop, especially after seeing Ryan’s playoff run in Chicago last season. There’s real pride in his voice when he talks about it, calling it special to watch his brother “play professional hockey and do his thing.” That’s not just older-brother politeness either; it’s genuine admiration for what Ryan’s built for himself in the league.

The two clearly grew up exactly how you’d picture two hockey-obsessed brothers. Both are fiercely competitive, playing road hockey constantly and bouncing around rinks all over Ontario to watch each other play. Suzuki even laughed remembering that Ryan was always stuck playing goalie for their street hockey games, which meant Nick got to fire shots at him for years before either of them ever put on an NHL sweater.

That’s a pretty fun detail; the future Canadiens captain basically got free shooting practice off his own brother in the driveway.