Blackhawks teammates support Foligno ahead of faceoff with brother

Nick Foligno knows his teammates have his back.

Chicago Blackhawks players arrived to Grand Casino Arena on Tuesday wearing “Team Nick” T-shirts before their matchup against the Minnesota Wild (8 p.m. ET; FDSNWIX, FDSNNO, CHSN).

The game represents the second Foligno Face-Off, with Nick and Wild forward Marcus Foligno going head-to-head. The brothers use the opportunity to raise money for breast cancer research.

They lost their mother, Janis, to breast cancer in 2009.

The Foligno Face-off partners the brothers with the Blackhawks, Wild, NHL, NHL Players' Association, and the V Foundation for Cancer Research through Hockey Fights Cancer to raise the funds.

According to Marcus, they’ve raised over $40,000 so far.

“It's an honor that the NHLPA and NHL has come together, and obviously the V Foundation chose us to kind of lead the hockey fight against cancer and to bring a fun rivalry to it too,” Marcus said.

Marcus had his own pregame fun, sneaking into the Blackhawks’ locker room to mess with his brother’s locker. He dropped off a “Team Marcus” T-shirt, filled Nick’s skates with bubble gum, and put stickers all over his equipment.

The Blackhawks and Wild played on Nov. 26 – a 4-3 overtime win for Chicago – but Nick missed the game with a hand injury.

"Yeah, I get to finally play him, so that's a nice feeling," Nick said on Monday. "I let him have it last time. It's nice. Nice to be a part of it this time."

The brothers had their own moment prior to the game, each wearing their respective "Team Nick" and "Team Marcus" T-Shirts for arrivals.

Fans can participate in the Foligno Face-Off by donating $17 (they both wear No. 17), or whatever they can give, to breast cancer research through Hockey Fights Cancer and the V Foundation. Donations can be made here and 100 percent of funds will go to breast cancer research.

And don’t forget to choose between Team Nick and Team Marcus when making a donation.

-- NHL.com Staff Writer Tracey Myers contributed to this report