April 15, 1993....Minnesota hockey fans lost the sport we were most passionate about! The Northstars were no more. How can you be the "State of Hockey" without a professional hockey team? The beginning of the 1993-94 season rolled around and the Northstars dropped their "northern" roots and moved about as far south as possible. The Dallas Stars played their first NHL game on October 5th, 1993. The "State of Hockey" would not receive another hockey team for 7 years.
Fast forward 20 years, this great state now has its pride and joy, the Minnesota Wild. If you were at least somewhat coherent last summer, I am sure you know we dipped into the ol' check book and signed the two biggest free agents of the summer! This investment has already proved to be the right choice! Zach Parise and Ryan Suter have pumped some much needed life blood into this organization. Their efforts along with a new and improved offensive and defensive force have propelled the Wild to the top of the Northwest Division and third in the Western Conference. And to put the icing on the cake, the Wild snapped a 16 game losing streak last night in Dallas that spanned 10 years!
http://espn.go.com/nhl/story/_/id/8144783/new-wild-players-zach-parise-ryan-suter-want-make-minnesota-place-be
The Wild fresh off their win over Detroit traveled to the one building that has been the thorn in the side for this hockey club for the last ten years; American Airlines Center. Riding a 6 game winning streak that featured wins over some of the top teams in the conference the Wild were feeling good. The first period opened up with the Wild taking it to the Stars early, Parise was robbed early with a wide open net that went off of a Stars defenseman's stick. Unfortunately former Golden Gopher Alex Goligoski took the puck off of the deflection and brought it down to sneak a wrister past Wild goalie Niklas Backstrom. The Wild responded quick though, 2 minutes later Zach Parise channeled his inner baseball player and batted a puck into the net past Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen. The rest of the period featured end to end action with both teams trying to get the go ahead goal. Then with just under 3 minutes left in the first period Jonas Brodin tripped Stars player Eric Nystrom to send the Stars on the first power play of the game. The stars went on to set up on the powerplay and Jaromir Jagr picked up a rebound and wristed the puck into a wide open net. The first period came to a close with the Stars leading the Wild 2-1.
The Wild hit the second period flying and after a few high quality scoring chances the captain, Mikko Koivu sidestepped around 2 defenders and fired a laser of a shot past Lehtonen. We again had a tie game. However the Stars are crafty and are not easy to put down, they responded very well and a little over two minutes later Trevor Daly wristed a bad angle shot over Backstrom's shoulder that found the back of the net. 3-2 Stars a little over 5 minutes into the second period. The Wild continued to pressure the Stars and ripped shot after shot at Lehtonen. Finally after Lehtonen missed covering the puck at the side of the net, "Johnny on the spot" Zach Parise got the loose puck and slid the puck off of his backhand into the back of the Stars net. We had a tie game once again! The Wild did not let off the gas after tying the game up. They continued to pepper Lehtonen with shots. Then with 5:38 left to play in the second Moorhead Minnesota's own Matt Cullen dug the puck out of the pile and rifled a wrister past Lehtonen to give the Wild the first lead of the game. The Second period came to an end with the Wild outshooting the Stars 31-19.
The puck dropped on the third period and the Wild realized that the Stars really wanted to take the game back into their own hands. The puck found Phillip Larson's stick and he ripped a wrist shot past Backstrom from the high slot. Again the game was tied. The Wild however were not about to let the Stars take the lead again. While on the penalty kill tough guy Cal Clutterbuck stole the puck at center and fired a shot at Lehtonen, the puck rebounded to centerman Kyle Brodkiak and he buried it in the back of the net to give the Wild a 5-4 lead. This was the Wild's first shorthanded goal of the year as well. Although the Stars would try to push back again and again the wild continued to shut them down. Then with 1:28 left in the game Dany Heatley slid a rebound past Lehtonen to give the wild a 6-4 advantage. In a last ditch effort to get some goals the Stars pulled Goalie Kari Lehtonen and put and extra attacker on the ice. Their effort proved futile when Pierre-Marc Bouchard sent a puck from the neutral zone into the empty Stars net. The Wild had finally done it, they managed to get a win in Dallas, something that they hadn't been able to accomplish in over 10 years and 16 games.
The Wild play tomorrow night at home and hope to extend their win streak to 7 with the Phoenix Coyotes in town. I will be in the stands watching our boys take it to the coyotes so be sure to check back tomorrow for some personal pictures (hopefully). As always thanks for stopping by and GO WILD!
-Kayle Hanson
