Hockey fans flock to St. Paul’s Xcel Energy Center to enjoy the games and immerse themselves in Minnesota hockey history. More than 100 years before the birth of the Minnesota Wild, Minnesotans began playing hockey, establishing it as one of the state’s most beloved sports.
Wild team curator Roger Godin has documented important moments and players from Minnesota’s first recorded game in February 1895 to the present day in “The State of Hockey Tribute” at the Xcel Energy Center. The tribute features 39 exhibits scattered throughout the downtown arena.
“I don’t kid myself by thinking people come here purposely to see the exhibits,” said Godin, who joined the Wild in its first season. “It provides a nice background, a nice ambiance. I hope along the way I educate them.”
Godin, a one-time director of the United States Hockey Hall of Fame Museum in Eveleth, was hired by the Wild in 2000 after the team’s first chief operating officer, Jac Sperling, proposed a series of exhibits focused on the game’s Minnesota heritage. Godin has regularly updated or added exhibits to “The State of Hockey Tribute,” continually looking for interesting facts, accomplished players, and other hockey-related items to highlight.
“I’m hoping that at least if people stop at some of these things they’ll gain a greater appreciation for the history,” he said about the exhibits.
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Over the years, Godin has added to the original exhibits; he’s especially passionate when it comes to the early years of Minnesota hockey history. “I think internally we have a tendency to not realize how far back we go and that we were producing significant players and teams prior to World War II,” Godin said.
“I’m trying to counter that in some of the exhibits.”
Godin’s favorite Minnesota hockey fact? “The second American and first Minnesotan taken into the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, as opposed to our own in Eveleth, was Frank ‘Moose’ Goheen, who was born in St. Paul and raised in White Bear Lake,” he said.
“He was a fantastic player.”
Here are some of the sights from "The State of Hockey Tribute":
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Key sights from “The State of Hockey Tribute”
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Great Moments in the State of Hockey
Ten banners feature a selection of significant events from Minnesota hockey history starting in the early 1900s and continuing to the birth of the Wild. It starts with a black-and-white image of the St. Paul Athletic Club, which won the McNaughton Cup in 1916.
“We’ve really had three major league teams,” Godin said. “Most fans would draw a blank on this one - the St. Paul Athletic Club.
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Memorial Area
“When Herb Brooks died in the car accident (in 2003), we knew we wanted to do something for him,” Godin said of the St. Paul native who coached the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” Olympic champions. The exhibit’s model of the gold medal the Americans received includes Brooks’ famous quote: “You were born to be a player. You were meant to be here.
Next to the Brooks tribute are memorials for former Wild hockey players Derek Boogaard and Sergei Zholtok. “This has turned out to be the memorial area,” Godin said.
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Minnesota Players of the Decade
In what Godin calls the arena’s “mini-gallery,” a wall hanging features images of 10 Minnesotans - from Frank “Coddy” Winters to Jamie Langenbrunner - representing some of the state’s best players.
Read also: Remember the Minnesota Moose?
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The State of Hockey in the NHL
A list of 178 now-retired Minnesotans who played in the National Hockey League (as of the end of the 2012-2013 season) proves that the state has been well represented in the league. “Among American states going back to 1917, Minnesota has produced more hockey players in the NHL than any other state,” Godin said.
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The St. Paul Athletic Club
The history of the St. Paul Athletic Club is laid out in this exhibit and features historical images of the team, including Goheen, who joined the roster in 1914. “Goheen is not only St. Paul Athletic Club’s greatest player, but he is Minnesota’s greatest player in my opinion,” Godin said.
“There’s a tendency to not want to look that far back. I always find irksome this comment, ‘Well it was before my time.’ My response to that is, ‘Well, Abraham Lincoln was before your time, and you know about him."
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High School Hockey Jersey Wall
“People like it because they can find their jersey and feel a sense of pride,” Godin said.
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Potter featured in Wild’s Hockey Lodge
Each year, Godin highlights a Minnesota player in the Wild’s Hockey Lodge retail space. This year, it’s Jenny Potter, the first woman to have that honor. The Edina High School grad had an impressive college career and has plenty of honors for her hockey skills, including four Olympic medals.
The Minnesota Wild were founded on June 25, 1997, and began play in the 2000-01 season. The team was founded following the departure of the Minnesota North Stars, who were based in Minnesota from 1967 to 1993, when they relocated to Dallas, Texas, and became the Dallas Stars.
Following the departure of the Minnesota North Stars after the 1992-93 season, the state of Minnesota was without an NHL team for seven seasons. On June 25, 1997, the National Hockey League (NHL) announced that Minnesota had been awarded an expansion franchise, to begin play in the 2000-01 season.
The team was officially named the Wild at an unveiling at the Aldrich Arena on January 22, 1998, with the song "Born to Be Wild" by Steppenwolf playing over the arena's speaker system.
The Wild played their first-ever home game on October 11 against the Philadelphia Flyers and skated to a 3-3 tie. Minnesota native Darby Hendrickson scored the first-ever home goal for the Wild. Before the game, it was announced the team would retire the number 1 jersey, their first number retirement, with no Wild player ever wearing it, to honor all Minnesota fans, who the team claimed were the true "number one" to them.
The most notable game of the year was the first visit of the Dallas Stars, who had formerly played in Minnesota as the Minnesota North Stars.
The Wild got off to a strong start in the 2001-02 season by earning at least one point in their first seven games. However, the Wild finished in last place again with a record of 26-35-12-6.
Gaborik spent much of the 2002-03 season vying for the league scoring crown before slumping in the second half, and the Wild, in their first-ever playoff appearance, made it to the conference finals before being swept 4-0 by the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.
Previously, the Wild had beaten the favored and third-seeded Colorado Avalanche in the first round in seven games, coming back from a 3-1 series deficit and winning both game 6 and 7 in overtime. Brunette scored the series-clinching goal, the last on Patrick Roy.
Niklas Backstrom was the starting goalie for the Wild after previous starter Manny Fernandez sprained his knee on January 20. The Wild broke numerous franchise records during the 2007-08 season, including most goals and points (Marian Gaborik - 42 goals and 83 points).
Also, Jacques Lemaire recorded his 500th career coaching win as the Wild clinched their first-ever Northwest Division title in a 3-1 victory over the Calgary Flames on April 3, 2008. They again faced the Colorado Avalanche in the conference quarterfinals, and the Wild held home-ice advantage.
Despite winning the Northwest Division the previous season, the Wild fell to ninth place in the Western Conference in 2008-09, missing the playoffs. Much of this was in part due to a lack of scoring and overall team offense, and the injuries to star forward Marian Gaborik, who only played 17 games.
Jacques Lemaire, head coach of the Wild since the team's inception in the 2000-01 season, resigned at season's end. In the 2009 off-season, Marian Gaborik signed with the New York Rangers during the summer as a free agent.
Team owner Craig Leipold hired former Pittsburgh Penguins assistant general manager Chuck Fletcher as general manager. Later that summer, Fletcher selected Todd Richards as head coach.
The 2009-10 and the 2010-11 seasons ended in disappointment for the Wild as they missed the playoffs in both seasons. The Wild opened the 2010-11 season with two games at the Hartwall Areena in Helsinki against the Carolina Hurricanes.
Prior to the 2013 trade deadline, the Wild acquired Jason Pominville from the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for prospects Johan Larsson and Matt Hackett, as well as draft picks. The team reached the postseason for the fourth time in franchise history after a 3-1 win over the Colorado Avalanche on April 27, 2013.
Even before the NHL's return to Winnipeg, Wild management had lobbied repeatedly for a move out of the Northwest Division, where they were the only Central Time Zone team. Following protracted negotiations both amongst the owners and with the National Hockey League Players' Association, in 2013, the NHL collapsed its six divisions into four and dissolved the Northwest Division.
Consequently, the Wild moved into the Central Division along with the Jets and Avalanche; the Canadian teams from the Northwest moved back to the Pacific Division.
The 2013-14 regular season for the Wild was the best the team had since the 2007-08 season, good enough to claim the first Wild Card position. Jason Pominville became the Wild's third player in franchise history to reach the 30-goal mark, with Mikko Koivu surpassing Marian Gaborik in all-time points for the club.
The Wild battled goaltender problems throughout the entire season. At the trade deadline, general manager Chuck Fletcher acquired Ilya Bryzgalov from the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for a fourth-round pick, as well as Matt Moulson and Cody McCormick from Buffalo in exchange for Torrey Mitchell and two second-round picks in 2014 and 2016.
In the playoffs, the team would face Colorado, who won the Central Division. The Wild won the series four games to three with an overtime goal in game 7 by Nino Niederreiter.
In 2014-15, the Wild clinched the first wild card spot in the West by defeating the Chicago Blackhawks. They then defeated the Central Division champions, the St. Louis Blues, in the first round of the playoffs in six games. In the second round, the Wild were eliminated in a four-game series sweep by Chicago.
In 2017, the Wild set their new franchise record for points (106), wins (49) and goals for (266). The Wild set a franchise-record 12-game win streak that was snapped on New Year's Eve 2016 by the Columbus Blue Jackets, a team also on a franchise-record win streak at the time.
Nevertheless, Minnesota failed to win more than a game in the playoffs, losing in five games to St. Louis. Mikael Granlund led the team in points with 69, while new addition Eric Staal led the team in goals with 28.
Following another 100-point regular season, the Wild matched up with Central Division rival, the Winnipeg Jets, in the first round of the 2018 playoffs. The Jets defeated the Wild in five games, making it three straight seasons in which the Wild failed to advance past the first round.
During the 2018-19 season, the Wild struggled to keep up in the ultra-competitive Central Division as they had in previous seasons. In the 2019 off-season, the Wild signed free agent Mats Zuccarello to a five-year contract.
On August 21, 2019, the Wild hired Bill Guerin as the fourth general manager in franchise history. On September 21, 2021, Kirill Kaprizov signed a five-year, $45 million contract with the Wild.
In 2022, the team set franchise season highs in points (113) and wins (53). Kirill Kaprizov set franchise records in points (108), goals (47), and assists (61). They faced the division rival St. Louis Blues in the first round, but despite having home ice advantage and the services of recently acquired goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, were eliminated in six games.
Despite a second consecutive 40-goal season from Kaprizov, the Wild struggled defensively in the early parts of the season before shifting entirely to lackluster offense and low-scoring games at the end.
However, thanks to a stellar season from Gustavsson, the team finished with 103 points, earning third place in the Central Division and setting them up for a playoff matchup against the division rival Dallas Stars.
| Record | Player | Statistic | Season |
|---|---|---|---|
| Most Points in a Season | Kirill Kaprizov | 108 | 2021-2022 |
| Most Goals in a Season | Kirill Kaprizov | 47 | 2021-2022 |
| Most Assists in a Season | Kirill Kaprizov | 61 | 2021-2022 |
| Most Goals in a Season (Previous) | Marian Gaborik | 42 | 2007-2008 |
| Most Points in a Season (Previous) | Marian Gaborik | 83 | 2007-2008 |
| Most Wins in a Season (Team) | Minnesota Wild | 53 | 2021-2022 |
| Most Points in a Season (Team) | Minnesota Wild | 113 | 2021-2022 |