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December 22nd

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December 22nd
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1944:  Former North Stars center Sandy Fitzpatrick born in Paisley, Scotland.  Fitzpatrick played in the NHL 1964-65 through 1967-68.

1950:  Former North Stars left winger Norm Gratton born in La Salle, Que.  Gratton played in the NHL 1971-72 through 1975-76.

1976:  Minnesota's Dean Talafous had a goal and an assist in the final 10 minutes of the game as the North Stars played in Cleveland for the first time in team history, losing 4-3 to the Barons.

1979:  The Minnesota North Stars were slated to play the Quebec Nordiques before a sellout crowd at Met Center, but the Nordiques couldn't land in the Twin Cities airport because of dense fog.  Instead the North Stars played an intra-squad scrimmage for over 4,000+ fans who stayed around at Met Cebter after being informed the league game was postponed.

1981:  Dino Ciccarelli scored two goals and added an assist as the Minnesota North Stars tied 4-4 with the Canucks, at Vancouver.

1981:  The 1982 World Junior Championship was held from December 22 - January 2 1982.  The Tournament was hosted by Canada Provinces (Manitoba and Ontario), and the United States in various cities across Minnesota including: Duluth, Grand Rapids, Brainerd, Virginia, International Falls, St. Cloud, Burnsville, New Ulm, Mankato, Rochester, Minneapolis and Bloomington (Met Center).  Canada captured their 1st Gold Medal in the World Juniors, while Czechoslovakia and Finland won Silver and Bronze respectively. (USA finished 6th overall with a tournament record of 2-5-0)

1982:  Just minutes after Wayne Gretzky was awarded the Sports Illustrated "Sportsman of the Year" award in Edmonton vs. the visting Minnesota North Stars,  Neal Broten & Gretzky became involved in a fight in the 1st period.  The fight, now a "YouTube sensation", was one of Gretzkys' only career fights.  Following the fight, when both players were in the penalty box, Gretzky's bodyguard Dave Semenko went and threatened Neal's life.  The Oilers went onto defeat the North Stars 8-2.

1984:  Keith Acton scored two goals and an assist, and Tony McKegney had three assists to lead the Minnesota North Stars to a 5-4 win against the Red Wings, at Detroit.

1985:  Minnesota's Dino Ciccarelli scored two goals and added three assists and Scott Bjugstad collected his second career hat trick in the North Stars' 8-3 win at New Jersey.

1987:  Neil Sheehy scored a goal and added two assists as the Calgary Flames picked up the 550th victory in franchise history, a 6-5 overtime win over the visiting Hartford Whalers.

1990:  Dave Christian scored a goal and added two assists to lead the Bruins to a 6-2 win over the Minnesota North Stars.

1990:  Chicago rookie Mike Peluso picked up 19 penalty minutes in a 5-0 loss at St. Louis.

1997:  Bill Robertson was named Head of Communications for the newly appointed Minnesota Hockey Ventures Group, LP NHL expansion team (Minnesota Wild).

2000:  Scott Pellerin picked up two assists in the third period to lead the Wild to a 4-3 win over the visiting Los Angeles Kings.

2001:  Minnesota defenseman Jason Marshall picked up 15 penalty minutes in a 2-1 win at Vancouver.

2005:  Former Minnesota State University stand-out Tim Jackman made his NHL debut squaring off in a game between the Coyotes and Sharks, vs former Maverick - Grant Stevenson making the first time two former MSU players faced off in an NHL game.

2007:  Minnesota's Niklas Backstrom made 47 saves in a 4-1 loss to visiting Detroit.

2008:  Rookie defenseman Alex Goligoski had two goals and an assist and Sidney Crosby scored at 43 seconds of overtime to give the Penguins a 4-3 win at Buffalo.

2011:  Robbinsdale, MN native Blake Wheeler had two goals and an assist and Ondrej Pavelec made 27 saves for his 9th career shutout as the Jets beat the visiting Canadiens 4-0.

Tag(s): This Day In MN History