Canucks road trip, 'Duel in the D' gives Joshua family 'once-in-a-lifetime' day

Detroit — Neither leg of Saturday’s doubleheader at Little Caesars Arena ended the way they wanted it to, but for the Joshua family, that’ll never take away from a “once-in-a-lifetime” type of day.

On the same day that Vancouver Canucks forward and Dearborn native Dakota Joshua played his first NHL game in Detroit, his younger brother, Jagger, was playing for the Michigan State Spartans in the nightcap’s “Duel in the D."

“It was probably about six months ago when Dakota just signed with Vancouver, so it was just a crazy coincidence,” said Jullee Joshua, who introduced her sons to the game through her involvement in the Metro Senior Women’s Hockey League in Detroit, which she still plays in.

The Joshua crew took up 26 seats for the Canucks-Red Wings game. They didn’t have a final count on the tickets for Jagger’s game, but he did note, “I got a little less pull than my brother on tickets tonight.”

“It’s a pretty cool opportunity to see my brother for the first time live in Detroit, the place we grew up watching Red Wings games,” Jagger said. “It’s definitely a cool moment for myself, my family, my mom, my grandparents. They sacrificed a lot for us to get here, so this is just kind of a nice moment for them to be recognized.”

The Canucks fell to the Red Wings, 5-2. Michigan State dropped the “Duel in the D” to Michigan in overtime, 4-3, a contest that included Jagger, 23, receiving a 10-minute misconduct for something that was said to an official. 

Dakota, 26, played his college hockey at Ohio State, was a fifth-round pick by the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2014. He made his NHL debut for the St. Louis Blues in 2021 and signed with the Canucks as a free agent this summer.

Though the NHL schedule limits how often he’s able to see his brother play in-person, he did get the chance to see Jagger play in Game 1 between the Spartans and Wolverines, a 4-2 win for Michigan at Munn Ice Arena in East Lansing on Friday night.

Jagger said he has fond memories of seeing Dakota play in Detroit for Little Caesars during his youth career.

“Me and my little brother (Bishop), we got kicked out of the suites,” he said. “We were just being little kids, just going around, seeing if we could find an unlocked fridge or something, and (former Red Wings rink manager) Al Sobotka kicked us out.”

“Looking back, it was great times and good memories.”

nbianchi@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @nolanbianchi