So Favre knows about hockey, too?

Ryan Suter is a better hockey player this season, and he has Brett Favre to thank for it.

A defenseman for the NHL's Nashville Predators, the 22-year-old Suter grew up in Madison and played one season at the University of Wisconsin (and briefly was on the Green Bay Gamblers' offseason roster in 2001 until he was snatched away by USA Hockey's National Development Program Team).

He'd been struggling with keeping his cool until he got a tip from his uncle, Gary Suter, another former UW and NHL player.

"I told him I was getting upset after games," Ryan Suter told the Nashville City Paper. "I was getting all worked up and I was just wasting the whole next day after a game because I would be so mad.

"We are both big Packer fans. Favre throws interceptions. But the next play, he comes back and throws a great pass or he scores a touchdown. My uncle told me I had to think the same way."

-- Jeff Ash, jash@greenbaypressgazette.com