Surprisingly Good Second Line Comes From Impressive Pedigrees

A lot this year has been made about the Brown-Oleksuk-Schmitt line this year, and with good reason. Their emergence has pushed the Dogs from middle of the pack to the top of the WCHA. UMD's second line success was a surprise to me, but it makes sense when I took a look at all three of their pedigrees.

• JT Brown - Father Ted Brown, Vikings RB (1979-86)

Ted Brown played running back for the Vikings for eight years, amassing 4,546 rushing yards, 2,850 receiving yards, and 53 touchdowns over his career. The 4,546 yards rushing is good enough to make him the Vikings 5th all-time leading rusher behind Robert Smith, Chuck Foreman, Bill Brown, and Adrian Peterson, who will probably be #1 on the list sometime next season. Also JT wears 23, just like his dad did.

• Travis Oleksuk - Father Bill Oleksuk, UMD F (1978-82)

Bill Oleksuk played hockey for UMD from 1978-82, and racked up some pretty impressive numbers:

Year	GP	G	A	Pts	PM
1978-79	39	30	14	44	22
1979-80	38	27	32	59	34
1980-81	39	12	27	39	22
1981-82	40	21	27	48	16
Total	156	90	100	190	94

Travis has 41 career points ten games into his junior year after failing to lock down a secure spot in Sandelin's rotation his freshman year, and spraining his knee in the season opener last year. He won't catch his pops in career scoring, but he has a pretty good shot at 100 career points.

• Kyle Schmitt - Uncle Brian Thun, C (Baseball) UMD, Brother Ryan Schmitt, Hockey, UWS

Schmitt's brother Ryan lettered in hockey at UW-Superior for a year and his uncle played catcher for the Bulldogs in 1986-87. In 1987 he batted .276 with 6 RBI and 3 steals. Pretty frisky for a catcher.


I know a lot of the roster comes from athletic backgrounds, it's no secret that athleticism runs in certain families. For instance, Jack Connolly's older brother Chris captains Boston University, the top-ranked team in the nation. Still it's interesting that all three players have can trace their lineage back through the local sports scene.