Phil Kessel

Penguins fans name their newborn baby after Phil Kessel

Published May. 17, 2017 2:42 p.m. ET

Pete Blackburn

Phil Kessel has been a member of the Penguins for less than two full years, but the impact he's had on Pittsburgh is pretty remarkable. Not only did he help lead the Pens to a Stanley Cup championship in his first season with the team, but he's also playing a crucial role in another deep playoff run this year.

And, as it turns out, Penguins fans are quite appreciative of that.

So much so that one Pittsburgh-area couple recently decided to name their newborn son after the winger. This week, Nicole and Adam Hillman welcomed a son and named him Kessel Ryan Hillman.

https://twitter.com/WTAE/status/864806471665680386

This excerpt, from WTAE, gives some context to the name:

Little Kessel was born while his father played “Let’s Go Pens” in the delivery room, mother Nicole said. Nicole said after baby Kessel was born, they realized, it was meant to be.

“Sure enough, they put me in bed No. 81,” Nicole said, referring to Phil Kessel’s jersey number.

Honestly, it would have been wrong to name the boy anything else.

Kissel actually works surprisingly well for a boy's first name, at least more so than a lot of other athlete-inspired names. Baby Kessel picked a pretty good week to join his parents too, as elder Kessel scored the game-winning goal in the Penguins' first playoff game following his birth.

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Phil Kessel

Pittsburgh Penguins

National Hockey League