Sports

Fitzgerald Brothers Squaring Off in Stanley Cup Playoffs

Wilmington resident Scott Fitzgerald's Bruins are facing his brother Tom's Pittsburgh Penguins in the NHL's Eastern Conference Final.

In hockey rinks around New England, the Fitzgerald family has been referred to as hockey royalty. This year, two members of the locally raised lineage are going head to head as they find out who will wear the crown in the National Hockey League’s Eastern Conference.

North Reading resident Tom Fitzgerald is the Assistant to the General Manager for the Pittsburgh Penguins after playing 17 seasons in the NHL. His brother Scott, meanwhile, is a Wilmington resident who is an amateur scout for the Boston Bruins, the team the Penguins are facing off against with a berth in the Stanley Cup Final on the line.

“We’re not a huge family. But we have a deep hockey tradition,” said Scott, who has the upper hand so far as the Bruins enter Wednesday’s Game 3 with a 2-0 series advantage. “I’ve always said that I hope we play each other every year in the conference finals because that means one of us will be playing for the Stanley Cup. He has to do his job and I have to do mine. But at the end of the day, we’re still brothers.”

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The family’s hockey lineage goes beyond just Scott and Tom. Longtime NHL forward Keith Tkachuk is a first cousin of the family, and the hockey success stretches all the way down to Tom’s sons, who are standout high school players with pro potential.

Scott said he’s already been scouting Ryan Fitzgerald, who is rated as a potential second round pick this year. Casey recently won a state title with Malden Catholic, and Scott said he believes his nephew will be drafted as well.

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Tom and Scott’s father didn’t play hockey, but has always been a passionate fan of the sport. He purchased season tickets decades ago, seats that he still owns now.

“Hockey was just a way of life in my house growing up,” said Tom. “This is all we know. Hockey is it, so it just becomes normal.”

Though the brothers are pitted against each other this postseason, it won’t exactly be a bitter rivalry. Both Tom and Scott said they plan to be in regular contact with their brother throughout the series, even if they’re on opposing sides.

“We’ll talk regularly,” said Scott. “He’ll hope his team works hard and becomes successful, and I’ll hope the same. I just hope it ends up being a good, solid series, that isn’t decided by controversy or something fluky.”

Tom said his role with the Penguins is likely difficult on his family, which grew up rooting for Boston’s black and gold. But he joked that his children have far more Penguins paraphernalia than they do Bruins gear.

Both brothers understand that while their ultimate goal is to hoist Lord Stanley’s Cup, it isn’t a goal that will ruin a tight-knit family relationship along the way.

“There are good story lines here, but it’s all good. I want to win. I really do. I want to beat the Boston Bruins, I want to beat my brother, I want to beat my dad,” said Tom, whose ultimate goal is to become an NHL general manager. “But whoever moves on, the other will be rooting for their team. In the meantime, this is work. This is what I do for a living. You have to shoot for the moon. Stanley Cup or bust. You have to set goals high. And for us, our goal is to win the Stanley Cup.”


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