Patrick Brown endures anxious time during coronavirus pandemic

Patrick Brown did his best to stay in shape after the American Hockey League paused and ultimately canceled its season.

But admittedly, hockey was the furthest thing from Brown’s mind at one point during the coronavirus pandemic.

“It was pretty crazy for a while there, just trying to go to the grocery store and touching as few things as possible,” Brown said Friday. “For about a month, we were just trying to be as healthy as possible.”

Brown spent the majority of the season with the Golden Knights’ AHL affiliate. But when the regular season halted in March, the 28-year-old said he moved out of his apartment in Chicago and quarantined in New York City, where his wife was working in a hospital.

New York was one of the hardest-hit areas during the early stages of the pandemic.

When Brown’s wife had a day off, he said they often traveled 45 minutes north to Connecticut to visit his parents.

“I was really proud of her,” Brown said. “But it definitely was stressful, and I know we’re all in this thing together and it’s starting to get worse in different parts of the country. We kind of already lived through it in New York, and I’m hoping that they’ve got it under control there because it was getting pretty scary there for a while.”

Brown, a grandson of late New York Giants owner Wellington Mara, was one of five forwards called up by the Knights for training camp ahead of the NHL’s 24-team postseason tournament.

He posted 21 points (seven goals, 14 assists) in 60 appearances for the Chicago Wolves and scored in his lone appearance with the Knights in a 6-5 overtime win Feb. 23 at Anaheim.

Brown played in eight playoffs games with Carolina in 2018-19 and won the Calder Cup with the Hurricanes’ AHL affiliate last season. That experience has helped earned him the trust of coach Pete DeBoer.

“Everyone’s watching at all times, so you can’t take a drill off or a shift off or fall asleep out there,” Brown said. “You’ve got to stay engaged and basically prove you’re supposed to be here every single drill.”

Captain’s orders

After DeBoer’s revelation this week that the Knights will name a captain before next season, Mark Stone’s name immediately jumped to the top of the list of candidates.

Stone is the team’s highest-paid player at $9.5 million per season and its emotional heartbeat. And like any good captain, he avoided the topic when asked Friday and shifted the focus onto the Knights’ entire leadership group.

“This is one of the strongest locker rooms I’ve ever played with, if not the strongest,” Stone said. “The only goal and the only thing I think about right now is trying to win the Stanley Cup.”

Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.