CLEVELAND — As the Ohio State and Michigan hockey teams get set to square off against each other outdoors at FirstEnergy Stadium in Cleveland on Saturday, the game has added importance for a pair of brothers. Tyler Duke is a freshman for Ohio State, while his older brother Dylan is a sophomore at Michigan.
These two brothers were born in Strongsville and grew up playing hockey together. Now they are competing against each other on the big stage.
Tyler said this is a dream come true for both brothers.
“Definitely going to be super exciting for our family and all of our friends” said Tyler. “Obviously being from Cleveland, you couldn’t get any better than this.”
He said his family was really happy when they learned about the game last summer.
“Definitely been marked on our calendar for a long time now,” he said.
Sharon Duke, the boys’ mom, said the family and friends bought nearly 400 tickets for the game Saturday.
“I had no idea it would take off like it did. I thought we’d have 50 to 75 people and when we saw the amount of texts coming in and the people that wanted to come, we started working with a girl at FirstEnergy stadium and our ticket count went up to we were just shy of 400 tickets,” she said.
She said it’s difficult for her during games like this, but the boys are always competitive regardless.
“You just watch and you hope that they can both perform to the best of their abilities and in the best way to help their individual teams,” she said.
She plans on wearing a jersey that supports both Michigan and Ohio State and her message to her sons before the game was the same as it always is.
“Enjoy the moment, have fun, be the hardest worker, love you,” she said.
The game begins Saturday at 4 p.m. at FirstEnergy Stadium.
