Minnesota has long been a hotbed of
professional, collegiate and amateur hockey. Professional hockey began when the
expansion Minnesota North Stars were added to the NHL in 1967. Sadly for Minnesota hockey fans, the North Stars moved south to Dallas in 1993, leaving a large void in
the state. Finally, in 1997, the National Hockey League announced the return of
hockey to the Twin Cities.
The teams
name was selected after a local contest ran for six months. The team name
"Wild" was announced in January 1998 and refers to the state of Minnesota’s many outdoor wildlife areas and, of course, the wild feelings fans project
regarding the love of hockey. The team colors were chosen as Forrest Green,
Iron Range Red, Harvest Gold and Minnesota Wheat. The logo design is a stylized
animal's profile, with a mural of green trees, red sky, a yellow sun, with a
white star as the eye and a river as the mouth.
The owner
of the team, Bob Naegele Jr. selected former Calgary Flame player and general
manager Doug Risebrough as the GM of the Wild and former Montreal Canadiens
great and New Jersey Devil coach Jacques Lemaire as the head coach.
The
Minnesota Wild began regular season play in the 2000-01 NHL season. They
featured a mix of young players and hard working journey men NHLers who fit in
well with Lemaire's tight defensive style of hockey. The Minnesota Wild made
their NHL regular season debut on October 6, 2000, losing 3-1 to the Mighty
Ducks of Anaheim. Rookie first round pick Marian Gaborik scored the first-ever
goal in Wild history in the second period. Their home debut at the brand new Xcel Energy Center was later that week against the Philadelphia Flyers, ending in a 3-3
tie. Ten days later they would shutout the Florida Panthers to record their
first ever franchise win. Led in scoring by the rookie Gaborick, the Wild
finished their first year at the bottom of the Northwest division with a
25-39-13-5 record for 63 points. Their second season saw a marked increase in
point production during the regular season though once again they trailed their
division with a 26-35-12-9 record.
The
breakout year for Lemaire's team was the 2002-03 season. The Wild saw Marion
Gaborik come into his own along with goaltenders Manny Fernandez and Dwayne
Roloson. The Wild finished third in the Northwest division with a 42-29-10-1
record and a club high 95 points. In the first round of the Stanley Cup
playoffs they faced a see-saw battle against the powerhouse Colorado Avalanche.
Winning the series on Colorado ice, the Wild then had to face the Vancouver
Canucks, another tough team. Once again, the Wild stunned their opponents and
ended up winning the series in the final game in Vancouver and the Wild
underdogs advanced to face the Anaheim Mighty Ducks. Unfortunately, the Wild
ran out of gas and the Ducks swept them in four straight games.
Despite
losing the opportunity to play for the Stanley Cup in only their third season,
the Wild remain a tough hockey powerhouse. They are extremely competitive in
the Northwest Division and are favored to win more titles in the years to come.
Their solid regular season play and ability for playoff heroics make the much
loved team a hot commodity. The brand new Xcel Energy Center in St Paul has four seating levels that hold 18,064 screaming hockey fans and regularly sells
out. This fast paced Minnesota Wild team is sure to impress fans for many years
to come. Go Wild!
The Wild once again had a playoff berth in the 2006-07 season, when the team fought its way to the seventh seed in the Western Conference. Unfortunately, they could not overtake division rivals the Vancouver Canucks at the end of the regular season; otherwise the Wild would have finished as the third seed. The seventh seed did not bode well for the Wild, as they were faced with a first round matchup with eventual Stanley Cup Champions the Anaheim Mighty Ducks. A stellar Wild team was simply outplayed by a better Ducks team, as the Wild fell in five games. The Ducks defense was simply suffocating, and the Wild scorers could not control the puck in the Ducks zone, nor could they score on the power play.
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