Evgeny Svechnikov had been biting his tongue for the better half of 60 minutes.



He watched and he bit, and he watched and he bit, right up until the final horn of the USHL’s Muskegon Lumberjacks game sounded. His brother would rack up 58 points in 48 games that season, but this particular night would not make it anywhere near a highlight reel.



So he sheepishly walked up to the team’s then-general manager, John Vanbiesbrouck.



“You know, Andrei can’t play center.”



They both laughed. That was obvious, after Andrei Svechnikov’s game playing a position as foreign to him as the English language.



Still, Evgeny just had to make sure the right people knew what was up. His power forward of a brother isn’t a center.



The two had been through too much — and by then, both NHL prospects had come too far — to let a bad lineup decision get in the way of their dream.



“We...