Wild sport custom T-shirts to celebrate Spurgeon’s 1,000th NHL game

The Minnesota Wild are raising a glass to Jared Spurgeon’s 1,000^th game.

The team sported custom T-shirts to celebrate the Wild captain’s career milestone as they arrived at Grand Casino Arena for their game against the New York Rangers on Saturday.

On the beige shirts, a bottle of tequila was drawn with a Wild-themed shot glass and lime. The words “1000 NHL Games” and “Jared Spurgeon” were written around the drawing.

In a picture posted by the Wild, Spurgeon held up the shirt with a bottle of custom tequila that was gifted to him by his teammates.

The tequila label had the captain’s name written alongside “Est. 2010” and “Made in Minnesota.” A special logo featuring Spurgeon’s silhouette was stamped on the bottom of the bottle label.

“Just very grateful to be here for that long, honestly,” Spurgeon said in pregame interview with FanDuel Sports Network North. “A lot of great people…you meet along the way. A lot of great teammates, from front office staff to throughout, so just very grateful to be here.”

Before the game, the Wild shared a picture of Spurgeon as kid to celebrate the day.

Wild head coach John Hynes sung the veteran defenseman’s praises ahead of the career milestone.

“He’s a great human being,” Hynes said in a video posted by the Wild on Friday. “He’s a great player, but I think he cares about people, he cares about the team, he cares about the organization. He treats everybody the same…it’s what makes him a great captain.”

Spurgeon is in his 16^th NHL season, all which have been played with the Wild. The defenseman was drafted in the sixth round of the 2008 NHL Draft by the New York Islanders. After being released by the Islanders, Spurgeon signed with the Wild after a tryout in 2010.

He was named the Wild captain in 2021. Spurgeon is ranked first in franchise history in points (434), goals (123) and games by a defenseman.