MISSOULA — The Brawl of the Wild is one of the biggest traditions of the state.

Meanwhile, the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Community Medical Center in Missoula has another which involves its youngest and littlest residents.

With the Brawl of the Wild being centered around football, nurses come together with volunteers to make hats for either the Cats or the Griz as well as a football onesie so the babies in the NICU can celebrate their first Brawl of the Wild weekend.

Leah Ericson who has been a nurse in the NICU for a little over a year and is a University of Montana grad is the mastermind behind creating these positive memories during a stressful time for the families of these babies.
“I've been a nurse for 16 months, and as soon as I was showing some of my colleagues that my mom, former NICU parent, was knitting preemie hats they were all in,” Ericson said.

With sometimes long stays in the hospital, and babies not able to go home and spend time with their families during the holidays, the NICU nurses dress up the babies in different outfits for the parents.

“For Christmas, for Thanksgiving, Halloween, we take pictures. And since Cat-Griz is a Montana tradition. It's a way that we can celebrate our great state. So the idea is always that we have some kind of football outfit on and then take photos,” Ericson said.

As a Montana grad, Ericson says that celebrating the little milestones and creating positive memories is a big part of the NICU.

“It's so much fun, as long as we can create positive memories for parents here, even for just those little milestones or some as exciting as Brawl the Wild, we're more than happy to do that,” Ericson said.

The parents and babies will get to keep their beanies and onesies for future Griz or Cats games and other football occasions that could arise throughout the year.

Montana State and Montana are slated to kick off at 12 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, at Bobcat Stadium. The game will be broadcast on CBS affiliates throughout Montana.