GLENDALE, Ariz. — The Avalanche’s Saturday night game against the Arizona Coyotes was one of the handful of times a season when Colorado center Matt Duchene reunites with his uncle, Newell Brown.
Brown, 54, has been an NHL assistant coach since 1996, and he’s in his fourth season under Dave Tippett at Arizona. During Duchene’s rookie season, in 2009-10, Brown was with Anaheim and he went on to spend three seasons with Vancouver before moving on to the Coyotes.
Brown’s sister, Christine Duchene, a former basketball player at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, is Matt’s mother.
A standout at Michigan State and then an assistant coach for the Spartans, Brown also served as head coach at Michigan Tech for two seasons before going to the NHL.