J.T. Brown, son of Ted Brown, to make Minnesota Wild debut Thursday

For a lot of people in Minnesota, as much as they love their Minnesota Vikings, October marks the start of hockey season. When the local team, the Minnesota Wild, opens their 2018-19 season tomorrow night against the Colorado Avalanche, there will be one player in red and green that has a huge connection to the purple and gold.

When the Wild set their final 23-man roster, one of the players that made the squad was a winger by the name of J.T. Brown. Normally that might not be that newsworthy. . .Brown has been in the NHL for six seasons, and came to the Wild this offseason after spending most of his career with the Tampa Bay Lightning. However, Brown has a special connection to the state, as he was born in Burnsville and played his college hockey at Minnesota-Duluth.

Oh, and his father is Ted Brown, the former Minnesota Vikings’ running back. The elder Brown played in Minnesota for eight seasons (1979-1986), scoring 40 touchdowns during those seasons. He is still the fifth-leading rusher in team history with 4,546 career yards.

I’m sure that, for a lot of people, this was already common knowledge. However, as the rare Minnesotan/North Dakotan that doesn’t follow hockey as closely as he probably should, this is a pretty significant thing.

Also, don’t let the picture above fool you. Now that the regular season roster is all set, the Wild have declared that J.T. Brown will be sporting the number 23. . .just like dear ol’ dad did for the Vikings.

Best of luck to J.T. Brown and the rest of the Minnesota Wild on their upcoming season, and be sure to check out Hockey Wilderness for all of your Wild-related needs.