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<\/a><\/p>\n\n Nick Foligno\u2019s first choice at the trade deadline was to be traded to the Wild to play with his brother, Marcus. (Photo courtesy of the Wild)<\/p>\n
They laugh now, thinking about the last time they played on the same team. It was more than two decades ago, when Marcus was in sixth grade and Nick was in high school. They were living in Hershey, Pa., where their dad was coaching the AHL team. Their sisters played for a middle school team in a co-ed league, and the coach, Jo-Ann Delaney, asked if Marcus and Nick could join.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow funny is that?\u201d Nick said. \u201cMs. Delaney. They played in a house boys league, and it was so unfair. They asked me to play. I was close to their age. It was hilarious. We actually won one game. Marcus was so young and playing there with the guys. It was actually comical. When we were all four playing, it was pretty fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
Said Marcus: \u201cNick was probably on the first line, and I was just surviving.\u201d<\/p>\n
The night before the trade deadline, Marcus and Nick were talking on the phone about different scenarios. Nick wanted it to be Minnesota, and their agent, Pat Morris, was keeping them posted. Marcus prayed on it. And the next day, when Nick found out his destination, Marcus was his first phone call.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got traded to another team,\u201d Nick told Marcus.<\/p>\n
Marcus was happy for him, bummed it wasn\u2019t the Wild.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll see you in a few hours,\u201d Nick said.<\/p>\n
The two were pretty fired up after that. Nick lived with Marcus briefly after the trade but eventually moved out and is staying in a hotel with other late-season additions, like Bobby Brink, Jeff Petry and Robby Fabbri. Nick joked he\u2019s kind of like a dad there, too.<\/p>\n
Nick\u2019s family \u2014 Janelle, daughter Milana, and sons Landon and Hudson \u2014 have stayed in their Columbus home since the trade but have visited, including this past weekend.<\/p>\n
Marcus said Nick is over for coffee every day and dinner most nights before going back to the hotel. He loves getting the \u201cUncle Nick\u201d time.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy niece had her birthday the other day,\u201d Nick said. \u201cWe had just traveled back, and I went over to the house just to give her a hug. When am I ever going to get that chance during the season? It\u2019s really cool to have that connection with them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Said Marcus, \u201cWe don\u2019t think we\u2019re overdoing it \u2014 hanging out with each other. For me, it\u2019s been 16-plus years of not having him around at all for eight months of the year. We\u2019re enjoying this time together.\u201d<\/p>\n
The two were together on the ice as linemates for a while, too, but have recently been split up.<\/p>\n
Marcus said it\u2019s been fun watching video of their shifts together, not like they need it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe played summer hockey with each other our whole lives,\u201d Marcus said. \u201cYou see tendencies over the years. Besides my dad and my sisters, the one person who has watched him the most in his career is me. I understand what he\u2019s going to do on the forecheck. I know if he\u2019s going into a battle, if he\u2019ll win it or not. That\u2019s been the best part is being able to read the player.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s almost like you do share the same brain.\u201d<\/p>\n
The brotherly bond could create some conflicts on the ice, especially if an opponent takes a run at Nick.<\/p>\n
\u201cOr vice versa,\u201d Marcus said, laughing. \u201cThat\u2019s the part that gets a little emotional. You have your brother in the mix, and someone is punching him in the head. You\u2019ve got to jump in there. Usually, it\u2019s me and him going at it. Now someone else is involved.\u201d<\/p>\n
Imagine what it\u2019s like for their father, Mike, who played more than 1,000 NHL games between stops with the Detroit Red Wings, Buffalo Sabres, Toronto Maple Leafs and Florida Panthers. \u201cMy dad is honestly more nervous than he lets on, too,\u201d Nick said. \u201cThe anxiety of the game and us winning and playing well, he\u2019s more worried about. You can tell that\u2019s why he doesn\u2019t like coming to watch us too often. He gets nervous.\u201d<\/p>\n
The brothers both thought of their late mother, Janis, who died in 2009 of breast cancer, after the family gathering at Game 4.<\/p>\n
While Mike was often away when they were young, Janis was not only a driving force<\/a> but also the driver. They\u2019d pack into the family\u2019s Ford Explorer or Chevrolet Suburban for treks to Sault Ste. Marie or Toronto for practices or games. The boys would change into their gear in the back seat. She\u2019d crank some music from her favorite artists, Celine Dion and Shania Twain. Nick said their mother\u2019s happiest times were when they were all together. So she would have loved days like Saturday.<\/p>\n\u201cI think she had a hand in it, for sure,\u201d Nick said. \u201cShe was smiling down. She\u2019d be so proud to see us all there. Just an amazing woman.\u201d<\/p>\n
After the game, in the family area, Nick laughed when defenseman Jake Middleton came into the room and asked, \u201cThese are all Folignos?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was like a circus,\u201d Nick said. \u201cIt was so fun for them, too. Hopefully it\u2019s something they\u2019ll remember.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. PAUL, Minn. \u2014 When Marcus Foligno scored the game-tying goal for the Minnesota Wild late in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":636425,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,7524,575,85],"class_list":["post-636424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-minnesota-wild","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/636424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=636424"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/636424\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/636425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=636424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=636424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=636424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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